Pipa pics

[Charlie Huang]

Here's mine's. Pardon the quality, it was done during the night...

(see below for better pics)

[twilight]

nice pix ;D

now I know how big they're suppose to be. My sis has one but I think it's just ornamental since it's smaller than yours proportionally

[Charlie Huang]

How small? If it's about 3/4 size then it might be a child's/student model since you need big hands to finger certain notes. My friend told me he had a 1/2 size antique one! Or is it really a liuqin?

[YouLanFengChune]

How much did you buy iy for? Its a Dunhuang Mudan Instrument!!

[Charlie Huang]

I bought it for around £450, which at the current exchange rate (woohoo to the British) comes to about $800. Cheng Yu went to China to personally select it for me, with her being a friend, et al, so it should be 'decent' like I asked for. But I'm happy with it, as was she.

As for the brand, I think I'll ask her to be certain.

[twilight]

Cardcaptor said:

How small? If it's about 3/4 size then it might be a child's/student model since you need big hands to finger certain notes. My friend told me he had a 1/2 size antique one! Or is it really a liuqin?

well, it's a VNmese pipa. We call it "ty ba" Maybe that's why it's smaller, like 3/4 size (like you said) If I ever have the chance I'll take a pic of it ;D

[Charlie Huang]

Better ones:

[fairlute]

twilight said:

Cardcaptor said:

How small? If it's about 3/4 size then it might be a child's/student model since you need big hands to finger certain notes. My friend told me he had a 1/2 size antique one! Or is it really a liuqin?

well, it's a VNmese pipa. We call it "ty ba" Maybe that's why it's smaller, like 3/4 size (like you said) If I ever have the chance I'll take a pic of it ;D

The TyBa seems to be almost the same as a 19th century Chines Pipa.
It has four top frets rather than six, and the bat figure as a decoration, usually.
Here is a 19th century Pipa at the Met:
www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/hanm/ho_89.4.52.htm
Here is a TyBa
www.vtc.vn/newsimage/original/vtc_120277_Dieu-Thao-3.jpg
The Liuquin is very different:



Anthony

[davidmdahl]

My Vietnamese music teacher has a dan ty ba on order that should be arriving very soon. I look forward to comparing it with my pipa. My initial impression is that the pipa is much larger and heavier, and the frets are deeper. Last summer I met a young Vietnamese lady who plays the dan ty ba as a primary instrument. I wish that I had asked more questions about it.

Anthony, the liuqin in the photos you posted appears to be an old version. Modern models have four strings. The sound and "feel" reminds me a lot of the mandolin, though of course without the chorus effect of the double strings. The sound of the liuqin is very different from the pipa or dan ty ba to my ears.

Best wishes,

David

[fairlute]

davidmdahl said:

My Vietnamese music teacher has a dan ty ba on order that should be arriving very soon. I look forward to comparing it with my pipa. My initial impression is that the pipa is much larger and heavier, and the frets are deeper. Last summer I met a young Vietnamese lady who plays the dan ty ba as a primary instrument. I wish that I had asked more questions about it.

Anthony, the liuqin in the photos you posted appears to be an old version. Modern models have four strings. The sound and "feel" reminds me a lot of the mandolin, though of course without the chorus effect of the double strings. The sound of the liuqin is very different from the pipa or dan ty ba to my ears.

Best wishes,

David

David
Yes the person who owned the Liuquin, told me it wa fifity years old. I wish I had bought it from him. He was a mandolin player, and has a huge collection of mandolins.

In the 60 and 70s, in Paris there were many Ti Ba players. Apparently, there are hardly any now, and it is impossible to find a Ti Ba lute repairer, here.

I believe that the Ti Ba is still played with nylon strings (originally silk).
I have just had a message from Mr Shu Chee Wong, who is a silk string maker.
He tells me that the traditionl pipa before 1950, had only 4 xiangs (big frets on upper finger board) and 12-13 pins (thin frets on the lower fingerboard), similar to the Ti Ba; while as you know the modern Pipa has 6 Xiangs and 18 Pins.

Also the sound board of the tradition pipa was thin as they used silk strings, but the modern sound board is thicker to be able to use metal strings.

I think the Ty Ba, like the traditional Pipa will probably have a lighter soundboard.

Mr Shu Chee Wong is again making the silk strings for Pipa at a very reasonable price, and he thinks they are better for classic pieces, although probably they will work better on a lighter instrument.
You can find his email here, if that interests you, or the person who will play the Ti Ba:
"http://www.silkqin.com/03qobj/silk.htm#f14"

The Pipa I recently acquired is in between the traditional one and the modern one, it has 6 Xiangs (big frets on upper finger board) but only 18 Pin (thin frets on the lower fingerboard). It’s what Mr Wong calls a reformed pipa of 1950’s to 1960’s. It would probably be excellent for silk strings, but unfortunately the instrument, which is otherwise in quite good condition, has warped.
You can see it on this page, it is the light aubergine coloured one : tinyurl.com/37yu5h

I would love to hear a recording of a Pipa or a Quin with silk strings, to hear the difference.
Regards
Anthony

[Charlie Huang]

There is a recording I made on silk strings in my myspace page. Search for Charlie Huang (qin) or something like that.

[czy]

your qin is nice.
however, when you place your qin you should either lying flat with the soundboards facing upwards or if you got to put it standing up, you should put it in a corner. more tips can be found in the eason website under resources
www.eason.com.sg/resources/resources.jsp

[Charlie Huang]

After five and a half years, I think I know where and how I place my guqin.

[czy]

i have played it for 9 years now. i believe i know it better than you do.however, pardon me since i din realise the date that the pics were posted. hmmm....probably you do know it after approx 4 years plus of playing it...hmmm...

[Charlie Huang]

Are you talking qin or pipa?

[czy]

Isn't it the same if i ask you
" Are you talking crap or rubbish?"
your question doesn't make sense to me.
hmmm.....

[Charlie Huang]

No, I'm asking you are you talking about the guqin/qin (seven-stringed zither) or the pipa (four-stringed lute) and thus do we have a misunderstanding? Since you said 'qin' I assume you mean the 'guqin' and not the 'pipa' since I have never heard a pipa being referred to as a 'qin'; a piano, yes, pipa, no.

[czy]

Yes indeed we do have a misunderstanding. In SG, qini ‹Õj is referred as an instrument. It doesn't exactly refers to any specific kind of instrument. In fact, sometimes even zhongruans, liuqins, guzhengs etc. are referred as qins by their players in SG in a school context. For me, qin refers to the pipa. After all, this is a pipa forum and i thought it should be quite clear, but apparently it isn't.

[Charlie Huang]

I've heard of 'huqin' used very much but this use of 'qin' to mean all stringed instruments is new to me. 'Qin' was used exclusively for the the 'guqin' until about the 20th C when the 'gu' was added to distinguish it from the 'gangqin' or 'piano', 'fengqin' or 'organ', etc.