FAQ

It is highly beneficial to take lessons so that you develop proper hand techniques and habits. A habit once formed is difficult to break, so if it's possible I would highly encourage taking lessons early on in your qin journey.

If you want to play traditional songs, lessons are highly beneficial. Traditionally the qin has been passed orally from master to student, specific techniques and playing styles are passed orally and are not noted in a score, so the best way to learn how to play traditional songs well is to learn from a teacher who has received the oral tradition. 

In contrast, the benefit of a teacher is relatively less for modern songs that are transposed for qin.

There are different things that one can use to "grade" a qin, and these are:

1. Musical Sound: How well does each open string hold its note? Does the instrument sound good at high and low notes? Do the slides sound "even"? Are there any buzzing sounds? As well as the entirely subjective, does it sound good to you.

2. Comfort: How comfortable is it to play?

3. Visual appearance: How well the instrument was painted, are the details put together neatly, as well as other details like duanwen. 

4. Base materials: The type of wood used, the material used for the hui, goose feet, pegs, and strings.

Generally a "good" qin, is one that sounds good. The sound is the most important of all the things to evaluate a qin on. If it sounds good, generally it'll also be comfortable to play, and will have a decent visual appearance and "good" materials.

Consider this from a qin maker's perspective, after making a certain number of qins, they will know what dimensions the qin needs to be such that it is comfortable to play. What is difficult is sound, no two boards are exactly alike, so being able to get the best sound possible is entirely dependent on the qin maker's skill and how much time the qin maker has to iterate on improving the sound. For instruments that sound better, the qin maker knows he/she will be able to obtain a better price for the instrument and thus will pair the instrument up with better materials such as gold hui instead of mother of pearl hui. The qin maker will also be more meticulous putting the qin together, so the visual appearance will be good. 

However, this is not to say all expensive qins are good, not every qin with gold hui will have a good sound. This is also to say that not all cheap qins are bad, there are factories in China that manufacture qins where many artisans will produce qins and they are generally sold based off of the artisans years of experience. Two artisans, both with two years of experience, may still have different degrees of skill, or one of them may have simply been lucky one day and made a better sounding instrument. These instruments are not tested one by one, so it's possible to find a good sounding instrument in a lower cost, but this is rare and difficult to find.

Generally speaking, you do get what you pay for when it comes to qins. A "good" qin is usually not a cheap qin

If possible, do not buy a qin online and instead buy in person. The most important aspects of the qin are things that are difficult to evaluate online. 

There are a few English language online stores that sell qins that you can find by searching online using your favorite search engine. Do note that for most qins posted online, regardless of price, that generally the recording/sound sample posted is of a qin of the same "grade" of what you are purchasing and it is not of your exact qin. So it's possible for the instrument that you receive to sound better (unlikely), or worse (more likely), than the sound sample. Why is it more likely that your instrument will sound worse than the one in the sound sample? Well, if you were the seller you would select the best sounding instrument of a particular grade to record a sound sample with, which makes the likelihood of a random qin of that grade to sound the same or better than the sound sample unlikely.

Buying online comes with risk, please be aware of the risk involved, familiarize yourself with the store's return policy.