I was actually really curious to ask, does the studio where you are apprenticing make the strings as well? If so, do you make silk strings, steel strings, or other combinations of hybrid strings?
My mother and I have been learning guqin since 2020 / 2021, and we have two guqins in the house, one silk stringed and one hybrid (silk encased in nylon), the latter of which we traded in our previous steel stringed one to get. We were super excited hearing about the process of making guqins from the supplier when we were buying our qins, so it's super interesting to see the process live in your videos! (I even showed my mother the video of you, she said 那孩子真用功，不像你 🥲 thanks mom)
Hope your allergies fix up soon!
Hello! :D
Our Guqin workshop doesn't make the strings here. I asked around and was told that most steel strings are made using machines because the strength needed to twist the steel to the necessary tension is very, very difficult to achieve by hand.
Silk strings, however, are handmade and usually done by people who specialize in that. My teacher said one of our string suppliers is in Suzhou. He's going to ask if they'll allow us to visit and have a tour of their workshop during Qingming holiday (they might be away, though, a lot of people go home for Qingming holiday). If we get the OK I'll take some photos/videos for you :D
And please let your mom know, my dad thinks I'm utterly insane for quitting my job in Canada, flying over to China, and now hunkering down to learn how to make Guqin. Waste of time and my life, as he calls it 😑
If you're ever visiting the Yangzhou area, feel free to drop me a message. We get people who come have a look around all the time :) We even have people who come over for a week or two to participate in making their own Guqin (my teacher helps them select the materials, they decide on the style and can draw their own stencil, dig out/shave the Qin themselves, and get it put together, we then help them finish it with the lacquer (allergies, most people don't want to deal with the allergies ^^;;), accessories, and strings and ship the finished product to them.
Re: allergies I've resigned myself to just being itchy for as long as I'm here xD Even after all the swelling and blisters went away, the rashes didn't and the itchiness worsened. A few days ago we were working with lacquer again for another set of Qin, luckily I didn't have as bad of a reaction this time but this darn itchiness is so irritating T___T When it wakes me up at 1 or 2 am and I can't sleep I want to stab myself x_X
I'm honestly considering taking a 1month break to let my body fully recover before returning, like my hands and legs right now are a hot mess. Patches of mis-coloured skin from where the new skin grew after the blisters, rashes, scabs, open wounds from scratching, dry skin...all 3 of us students are pretty much the same, 全军覆没了 OTL
So yeah...if you visit we'll be sure to keep you away from the lacquer xD
