Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Guzheng Making of Shanghai Dunhuang Musical Instruments Co., Ltd

Sometime in October factory last year, I had tour of the factory of Shanghai Dunhuang Musical Instruments Co., Ltd where we are the sole distributor for their 'Yun' brand Chinese Music Instruments in South East Asia. Shanghai Dunhuang 'Yun' brand is actually a different brand from Dunhuang Brand, although they share the same boss. If you are familiar with Singapore's media industry, they are like mediacorp and the ex-mediaworks, always competing with each other but the directorship trace back to the same person.

That is another story for another day. Shanghai Dunhuang 'Yun' Brand produces excellent quality musical instruments, especially the Guzheng. Below are some pictures that I took on their Guzheng making. Not in any order of work in progress.

Storage area of different anatomy of the Guzheng....
Unfinished business #1...

Strings unattached...

Covers...

Some internal structures of the Guzheng...

Unfinished business #2...

Craftsman carving the 'Yun' brand on the side of the Guzheng...

Women painting the putting color to the 'Yun' brand on the side of the Guzheng...

Another storage area...

Guzheng soundboard exfoliation...

Unfinished business #3...

Unfinished business #4...

Unfinished business #5...

Unfinished business #6...

Craftsman doing something to the sides...

Skeletons in the closet...

Soundboard added...
Unfinished business #7...

Manicure and pedicure...

Where's are my teeth? (Click here for the finished product)

Hmmm....

Raw materials...

Some internal structure being carved out from blocks of wood...

Fossilized bridges...

Keeping the soundboard in place...

Raw materials...

Raw materials...

Full bodied buffing...

Almost finished business...

There you go...
Finished business!

Packed up and ready to go....
Click here for one of the intended destinations!

So you see, a lot goes into that Guzheng you have in your living room.

And this little girl wants to do it all by herself...
Finally, the man who has been in this business since 1978 - my father...

2 comments:

  1. This is great! Going to show it to my gal later. I nearly choke at the price tag also. :p

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  2. Wow! Great photos! I have been looking for photos of the insides of guzhengs. Thanks so much for posting these!

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