Nowadays, more and more people pay attention to national musical instruments. Many domestic people go abroad to perform, so that more foreign friends can learn about Chinese musical instruments. Many people in China are promoting our own national musical instruments. Today, let's talk about how to buy pipa.

First, look at the materials of the pipa

The materials of the pipa are divided into four categories: the highest grade, the high grade, the middle grade and the second grade. The highest grade is made of red sandalwood, the sound is the best, and the price is the most expensive. There are very few pipas with a whole piece of red sandalwood backing. Although there are, they are made of two or three pieces of red sandalwood. The high-end mahogany is used as the backing material. There are many varieties of mahogany, among which the old mahogany (black and red in color, and it is difficult to buy) and new mahogany (light red in color, most of the mahogany pipa that can be bought in the market are this. A) as a backing material, the sound is better, and the price is slightly more expensive. The mid-range ones use rosewood and fragrant mahogany as the backing material, the sound is still good, and the price is moderate. The second grade is made of white wood (such as (hole) wood, etc.) as the backing material, the sound is poor, and the price is the cheapest. The backing material is the best, and elephant shells are the most expensive. No matter what kind of material is used for the backing, most of the backing materials are made of a single piece, rather than a backing material made of several pieces. Because the backing material is made of several pieces, it will not affect the appearance and sound when it is newly purchased. But after using for a period of time, there will be traces of spelling where they are joined together. If they are degummed, the sound will also deteriorate. For the whole piece of backing material, it is also necessary to look for cracks or deformation.

How to distinguish the backing of red sandalwood, old mahogany and new mahogany, you can scrape the paint off the back of the mountain pass and the upper end of the backing with a knife, and then use the test method or use the naked eye to see its wood grain and color to identify. If you don't understand the wood grain color of red sandalwood and you can't test it, you should ask someone who can read it to choose it together, because there are too few red sandalwood materials, and some are shoddy.

The materials used for Yamaguchi, Liuxiang, and Phoenix pillows are divided into ivory, jade, white horn, black horn, aggregate, mahogany, etc. in terms of cost price. Elephant shells are the most expensive, and mahogany is the cheapest. The head flower is divided into ivory, jade, aggregate and so on. Treasures are divided into ivory, red sandalwood, boxwood, mahogany and so on.

2. Look at the workmanship of the pipa

The head degree, string groove, and Zhenzi should be evenly matched. In terms of the shape of the pipa, the size of the head, the curvature of the string groove, the inclination of the four Zhenzi, the length and thickness, etc. are all based on the appearance and fit. The grinder should be fine, and the paint color should be elegant. The neck of the pipa (six phases) should not be too thick or too wide, and the first part of the grade should not be too thick or too wide. Female fingers are shorter and more laborious.

Carefully observe that the phase is the same distance from the left outer end of the first string of the first fret and the stone outer end of the fourth string. It is common that the distance between the first string and the left outer end of the first fret is short, and the distance between the fourth string and the right outer end of the first fret is long. No more music. This is a production flaw. The reason for the formation is mostly because the double hand is not glued to the center of the lower abdomen of the panel, or because the string of the mountain pass is opened to the left or unevenly.

The surface of the compound hand should be a horizontal plane, not a semi-circular curved shape. First, it is related to pronunciation, and secondly, it is semi-circular curved. When the string body is pulled upward, the string body at the upper mouth of the compound hand is concave. Here The string body is prone to breakage.

The first string is the thinnest and has the highest pitch, and is used more often. For this reason, the first string is the most likely to break, and it is often necessary to change the string. Generally, a wire slot is sawed under the turn hole of the compound hand substring, and the string can be changed through this wire slot, which can save the time of changing the string. However, some makers only saw a very thin wire slot. When actually changing the string, they cannot use this wire slot to change the string, making this wire slot useless.

Therefore, the wire groove should be wider, and the double hand side of the wire groove should be removed more, so that the string can be easily changed through this wire groove.

Both the frets and the phases are phonemic devices on the pipa, and the position of each fret must be arranged in a precise tone. Between each product, from top to bottom, from wide to narrow, the arrangement is very uniform. In particular, it should be checked that the distance between the upper end of the 18th fret and the string body should be 0.4 to 0.5 cm; if the distance exceeds 0.6 cm, you will feel very tired when pressing the lower handle. For this reason, frets with a distance of more than 0.6 cm between the string body and the upper end of the eighteenth fret are faults in production and should be replaced.

3. Listen to the timbre of the pipa

The pipa with strong and loud volume and rich golden and stone timbre is the primary choice target of buyers. A pipa with good sound, you will love it when you play it. The more I play, the more I like to play. It can be said that I never get tired of playing. Therefore, when buying a pipa, you must first play it and listen to its acoustic effects.

For the timbre of the pipa, the older generation of performers once listed five timbres of "sharp", "tang", "song", "brittle" and "explosive", and asked to match the five timbres of sharp, tang, loose, crisp and explosive on a pipa. Sound is available. "Sharp" means that the sound of the lower and treble is very bright; "Tang" means that the sound of the upper and lower bass areas is very strong; "Loose" means that the sound is very sensitive after strumming; The timbre of the handle is very crisp; "explosive" refers to the timbre that can emit the sound of gold and stone, the sound has thickness and weight, and the sound can be transmitted farther. Among them, there are great contradictions in the production of Tang, Song and Baku. For example, on the pipa that can produce the sound of tang and pine, most of them cannot hear the sound of explosion of gold and stone, and most of the pipa that can produce the sound of strong and rich sound of gold and stone have lost the sound effect of tang and pine. How to achieve a loud volume and a very sensitive response on a pipa, and at the same time have a sound of gold and stone, a solid and powerful tone, this is the goal of the pipa masters, and it is also a technical problem in production. No detailed introduction is given.

4. Look at the panel of the pipa

The technique used to make the panel and the quality of the panel have the most direct and closest relationship to the pronunciation of the pipa. In the past, the panels were made of sycamore wood from Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui and other places. After many experiments and comparisons, all of them have been made of Paulownia boards grown in Lankao, Henan. However, Lankao's tungsten boards will also have advantages and disadvantages. And once on a high-quality Lankao Paulownia tree, there are only two best boards. Whether the best tungsten wood can be selected, this is another knowledge that the masters have when choosing materials.

When purchasing a pipa, you can only see whether the wood grain on the outside of the panel is straight; whether the width between the grains is appropriate; whether there are knots on the panel; Sawed, remove the hard core part of the tree and the part with poor sound transmission or put it on the left and right sides), etc., others such as the depth, width, position of the beam and its thickness, width, sound column The position, size and shape of the slats, whether there are splayed beams, the radian and depth of the inner bore, etc. have all been done, and cannot be seen from the outside.

In the past, yellow croaker fat was used for sticking the board, and pigskin glue was mixed into the yellow croaker fat, which is a glue containing water. A lute that uses glue containing moisture to stick the panel will change its volume and tone after playing it for five years and ten years. Because after a certain period of time, the water in the glue gradually evaporates, and the volume and tone will inevitably change. For this reason, when purchasing, it is necessary to ask whether a water-containing glue is used.

Chemical glue is also used when gluing panels. There are many types of chemical adhesives. Some of the panels that have just been glued have better sound effects, but they have not passed many years of practice and tests. Whether there is any change in the fastness of their adhesion and whether the sound has changed, etc., can not draw the correct conclusion.

When picking a pipa and listening to the sound, I generally like the pipa with a loud volume and a wide sound, ignoring the solid (explosive) sound of gold and stone. We have proved through practice that most of the pipa with high volume and wide sound lack the sound of gold and stone and solid timbre. After playing for a period of time, although the volume is still high, the sound gradually loses its "weight" and the sound becomes more "empty". Even very "woody", very ugly. This is because after a certain period of playing, the panel vibrates continuously, and the moisture and mucus in the panel wood have gradually decreased. Therefore, when choosing a new pipa, you must not only rely on the loud volume and wide sound, but also whether there is a sound of gold and stone, and whether the timbre is weighty and solid. Generally speaking, it is advisable to choose a volume that is not the largest, but the response is very sensitive, and the sound is thicker.

Five, pay attention to the origin of the pipa

Pick the pipa, listen to the sound, and pay attention to the region. Is it the pipa made in the humid areas of the south, or the pipa made in the dry areas of the north. It is common in the south to choose a loud volume, a more sensitive response, and a timbre that is not "empty", but after being brought to a dry area in the north, the sound will become "empty" and "woody" after five days and ten days of dry climate. This is due to the rapid evaporation of water and mucus in the panel. For this reason, when choosing pipa in various musical instrument factories in the south, it must not only rely on the local pronunciation effect, but should take into account the changes that occur after it is brought to dry areas. Therefore, when choosing a pipa in the south, it is better to choose a pipa with a lower volume and a more solid tone (burst). Even if the pipa made in the dry area in the north is not used for performance immediately, it is better to choose a pipa with a solid (explosive) sound and some weight.

For this reason, those who choose pipa must learn to listen to the ability to distinguish the various timbres of "sharp", "tang", "loose", "brittle" and "explosive". You can only buy an ideal pipa with a long service life after hearing whether the above five timbres are available.