Guqin has a very long history. Many Guqins made by the ancients have become artistic treasures collected by literati of all dynasties because of their beautiful appearance and beautiful sound. So, how is the handed down guqin made?

There are a lot of discussions on the production of the guqin in the related guqin documents of the past dynasties. In general, to make a complete guqin, it generally goes through the steps of selecting materials, drying, making grooves, painting, fading, emblem, and winding. This time, I will introduce some basic steps of making Guqin, so that we can better understand each Guqin in front of us.

1. Material selection

The sound quality of the guqin is closely related to the wood used. Lei Shi, a family of qin making in the Tang Dynasty, once concluded: "Good selection of materials, deep intentions, five hundred years, and correct tone." This shows that he attaches great importance to the selection of materials. In principle, the production of guqin must be made of paulownia wood as the surface and catalpa as the bottom. However, although there are many paulownias, not many are suitable for making qin. Therefore, it cannot be considered that the qin with the tong face and the bottom is a good instrument. Must meet the required conditions in order to be selected.

The paulownia wood used for the top of the piano should be good products with straight texture, uniform width, moderate hardness, no scars and moth-eaten defects. In addition, the longer the age, the better the paulownia wood, the wood sap has been exhausted, and the sound is more loose; secondly, the catalpa wood is also preferably more than a hundred years old, and the longer the age, the better. Saw it and pinch it with your fingernails, it's hard to get in.

After there is a good piano material, it has to be processed. The ancients used the method of fumigation and exposure, that is, first immerse the tongzi in water, then take it out and hang it on the stove and use the wind and the sun to dry it until the wood sap is completely dry. Modern old wood is hard to find, and most qin makers use new wood, which is then machine-dried and processed to make the qin.

Second, the piano

Because the internal structure of the piano is a resonance box synthesized by the upper and lower bottom plates. Therefore, in order to make a piano that is suitable for playing and has a good tone, it is very important to deal with the relationship between the external diligent radian and the groove structure inside the piano body. Generally speaking, the curvature of the piano surface, the height of the mountains and the dragon gums will not only affect the timbre of the guqin, but also directly affect the feel of the guqin when it is played.

Here, there has always been a saying of "one finger before, one piece of paper after", that is, the height of Yueshan cannot be higher than one finger, and the height of Dragon Gum is only one piece of paper. Therefore, it is very important to grasp the height of the mountain and the dragon gum when making the piano. If it is played too high, it will feel resistant to the fingers, and if the piano surface is too low, there will be a sound of slapping the strings. Regarding this point, Teacher Wu Na mentioned it in the previous live teaching.

Three, paint

The qin masters of the past dynasties also have different creations in the art of guqin painting and lacquer. The lacquer tires of Guqin are mostly synthesized with traditional raw lacquer and antler cream, but also with Babao ash, porcelain powder or tile ash and raw lacquer. Antler cream is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine. After mixing with raw lacquer, it is applied to the surface of the piano body. The texture is firm and not easy to wear. The longer the time, the more transparent the sound of the piano. The eight-treasure gray body is made of gold, silver, mother-of-pearl, malachite and other precious gem powders mixed with antler cream and raw lacquer. Its texture is the strongest and most precious.

When the ancients made a qin, it was generally necessary to paint the tire several times. The first time the ash is thick and thin, after it is dry, it is slightly ground with a rough stone. The second time, the medium ash is slightly thicker, and it is ground after it is dry. For the third time, use fine paint ash, wait for it to dry evenly, and grind it with water. Make up the fourth time, and then grind it with water. Re-paint the uneven parts until the piano surface is smooth and there is no brake sound. After the piano tires are installed, the surface lacquer is painted.

After the above process is completed, accessories such as the emblem, strings, and zither can be put on. As the elegant play of literati of all dynasties, the production and materials of accessories such as Zhen, Hui, and Yan feet of Guqin are also quite exquisite. The most commonly used material for making the emblem is the clam shell, and the more expensive ones are gold, jade or white jade. Wild goose feet and qinzhen are generally made of hard wood, such as mahogany and red sandalwood, but also made of jade and horns.

It can be seen that making a guqin takes a lot of effort. And after a guqin is made, it often has to be played continuously by guqin masters, and its timbre will get better and better. Therefore, the creation of the guqin from scratch, from production to playing, is a complete dynamic process, and finally it falls on the relationship between people and the qin, in order to display the greatest charm of the guqin.

Although there are very few guqin handed down in ancient times, today's qin masters still inherit the tradition and present the best craftsmanship on a piece of qin. In this instrument spanning thousands of years, we can have a profound dialogue with the past, the present and the future.