What does Shanghai Dunhuang mean by "whitewood"?

[aeliascent]

I just purchased a Liuqin, but I'm putting this question here since there are more pipa players than liuqin players.

I notice that Shanghai Dunhuang uses "whitewood" or "白木" in their budget models of pipa and liuqin, and I assume both are the same. What do they mean by "whitewood"?

Redmusicshop calls it "hardwood," while Eason and Harmony Music call it "whitewood." It could be anything from maple to poplar to basswood. Thoughts? 

Thanks! 

[dawei]

Welcome to the liuqin!

I looked at one website and saw "Made in Whitewood(白木) and air-dried Paulownia tonewoods", and could not find a definition of "whitewood".

What I do know is that it is the basic body and neck wood on lower end instruments - but it can sound pretty good when well set up.

Paulownia is a common wood for making the soundboards and other parts of guqin, guzheng, pipa, etc.

So your low end "white wood" pipa and liuqin will have a dark paint or varnish to cover the plain wood, whereas the better woods like rosewood will have a natural finish so the quality of the wood is visible.

blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_46db7bad0102vw2g.html

A useful website for beginning liuqin

www.qupu123.com/qiyue/qita/p23913.html

Snake dance from the liuqin selection

www.yueqixuexi.com/liuqin/

other scores

[aeliascent]

So, I just got the Liuqin and I've been noodling around with it, trying to learn "The Battle of Evermore," and some songs from Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

I'm pretty certain that the wood is maple. It's pretty heavy so it's most likely a hardwood. And maple is often used in lower end Chinese instruments. 

If it's maple, I'm pretty happy with it. I was always a fan of maple instruments, e.g. Fender Teles and Epiphone Sheratons.  

[aeliascent]

Posting for posterity: 

Alright, so I just looked at the tag. It says "色木," which translates to "color wood." At first, I thought it was "painted wood" meaning wood that they painted black.

However, I did a quick search on Baidu Baike, and it means Acer Mono Maxim, which is basically a far eastern maple. The English name for it is "Painted Maple."

So it looks like the "Whitewood" that Shanghai Dunhuang uses is in fact maple!

Come to think of it, a solid top and solid, carved body instrument for ~$200 is insane!

[edcat7]

Nov 25, 2017 15:25:43 GMT dawei said:

Welcome to the liuqin!

I looked at one website and saw "Made in Whitewood(白木) and air-dried Paulownia tonewoods", and could not find a definition of "whitewood".

What I do know is that it is the basic body and neck wood on lower end instruments - but it can sound pretty good when well set up.

Paulownia is a common wood for making the soundboards and other parts of guqin, guzheng, pipa, etc.

So your low end "white wood" pipa and liuqin will have a dark paint or varnish to cover the plain wood, whereas the better woods like rosewood will have a natural finish so the quality of the wood is visible.

blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_46db7bad0102vw2g.html

A useful website for beginning liuqin

www.qupu123.com/qiyue/qita/p23913.html

Snake dance from the liuqin selection

www.yueqixuexi.com/liuqin/

other scores

I'm going to refresh this page since I plan to have liuqin/zhongruan tuition again in the future.

Ed