In the past, people called it "Sitong", which is what we call Guqin today. "Sitong is a qin, and there are ancient sounds." In this poem by Bai Juyi, it can be seen that the ancient qin was mostly made of silk rope and paulownia wood, and it can play ancient sounds.

Does the guqin have to be made of a combination of silk strings and paulownia wood in order to produce a superior tone?

No, you must know that musical instruments, as instruments that people use to play timbre and rhythm in various ways, will be engraved with different imprints in the inheritance of the times. And different times, the material, shape, scale and timbre of musical instruments will be more or less different.

And today, what I bring to you is the "past life and present life" of Guqin strings, let's take a look!

Before the 1970s, guqin mainly used silk strings made of twisted silk strands; while modern qin players mostly use nylon-clad metal strings advocated and developed by famous guqin masters Wu Jinglue and Zhang Ziqian in the 1960s and 1970s.

silk string

Silk strings: Made of high-quality silk, the thickness of the seven strings gradually decreases.

Features: The tone is sweet, simple and quiet, the flavor is honest, soft and full, the sound is powerful and the aftertaste disappears quickly.

Production: Thousands of silks are made into a string, which is boiled and brewed in a prepared potion for several days (the length of this process affects the clarity of the sound of the strings), and then the strings are dried. , Repeatedly stretch the strings to make the strings tough and not easy to shrink and break, and finally "winding the yarn", that is, wrapping silk on the outside of a single string from one to three strings.

Disadvantages: The strings should be played frequently, the tension of the strings is easily affected by the external temperature and humidity, and the strings need to be re-stringed frequently. The sound of silk strings is small and easy to break, and the process is complicated and the price is more expensive.

The silk-stringed guqin has the charm of "Xuanhe sings and dances, and the deep fish listens", and its replacement is also due to the change of the times. The quality of silk is not what it used to be, there is no time to take into account the anti-Japanese war, and the "four olds" of the Cultural Revolution hit... The waves of the times are impacting the inheritance of ancient rhyme wave after wave. In the old days, the guqin was "pleasant but not entertaining", and the sound of playing was only transmitted three or five steps away; nowadays, the guqin is often performed on stage as a representative of art, and people are more interested in the volume of the guqin. Obviously, the volume of traditional silk strings cannot be satisfied. .

steel string

Nylon-covered metal strings: commonly used steel nylon guqin strings.

Features: smooth surface, wear-resistant, larger vibration energy than silk strings, high sensitivity, long aftertaste, clean tone, cheap price, easy maintenance, etc.

Production: The composite composed of nylon, weighting objects, and transition layer is regarded as the "winding layer", and the steel wire is regarded as the "inner core", and nylon is wound on the outside of the steel string core. The production process of the "transition layer" has a great influence on the timbre of the strings, so the strings have a very comprehensive consideration in the design, as well as complex and tedious technical matching.

Disadvantages: Sometimes the aftertaste is too long, the sound is sweet and greasy, there is a metallic tone, and it lacks the ancient rhyme that the guqin should have.

Steel strings are the product of the development of the times, but also the choice of the times. With its appearance, the performance of the guqin has not only been raised to a higher level and a higher and larger stage; it has also entered the eyes of more inheritors of Chinese culture, facing the future of prosperity and revival.

Ice String

Bingxian: One of the more advanced types of strings.

Features: between steel strings and silk strings, strong and not easy to break, relatively short aftertaste, softer than steel strings, full of ancient charm, no metal sound.

Production: Man-made fibers are made of raw materials.

Disadvantages: The timbre is dull and the finger force changes are weak. It is not suitable for playing after a gradual progression. After getting used to it, the finger force will be insufficient when playing steel strings.

Bingxian is suitable for practicing the piano at home. The advantages of good hand feel and no hand injury can increase the daily practice time. Its price is also between steel strings and silk strings, which is a more expensive kind of strings.

No matter how good the wood is, and how superb the qin craftsmanship is, the guqin is also produced by the vibration of the strings. At present, Chinese strings are roughly divided into the above three types, and blindly pursuing expensive matching is not applicable to Guqin. Only with the right wood and the right strings, can the unique sound quality of the guqin be played, and a glorious chapter in the history of the piano can be played.