Pipa

[labgnat]

Hi i've got a chinese pipa that i bought in shanghai, i want to be able to amplify it. but i dont' want to drill or route or screw anything into it since it's hollow. Anyone know of any kind of little mic or pickup that i could put under the strings with a output jack that i could plug into an amp or my computer? i'm not looking for amazing sound quality or anything just something cheap and easy


here's a pic so you can see what it would go on.

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...&hl=en&lr=&rls=RNWE,RNWE:2004-42,RNWE:en&sa=N

it's what that gal is playing

 

[BOOCAKE4U]

radio shack used to sell these little mics for recording phone calls, they stick on with a suction cup and terminate in a 1/8" plug...couldn't hurt to try and you could always return it

here it is:

Invalid Link Removed

 

[yoshi]

haha, i had the same idea for a guzheng! Only I wanted to whack on some strap locks and do to this ancient chinese instrument what the 1980's did do the piano - turn it from a beautiful instrument into a handheld, cheesy metal-bringing machine!

Just imagine doing an oriental take on van halen's jump ^^,

this is a guzheng: http://www.philmultic.com/graph/images/Liu_Fang_Guzheng.jpg -aka the thing that guy plays in house of flying daggers.

 

[bassteban]

I think Bob Gollihur has some piezo pickups for various non-bass instruments; you might check his site out.
www.gollihur.com

 

[lemur821]

Schatten makes a soundboard transducer that would probably be perfect for the job. $18 for one without a jack, and $30 for one with.

 

[geoffkhan]

What I would do is buy a violin mic and customize it a little to fit on the Pipa.

I play Erhu, and I mic it with a Rode NT-2a, so you could always consider using a '57 on a mic stand or something...

 

[labgnat]

yeah i was thinking about just micing the thing. but my microphone has xlr plug in. i need a cable that xlr plugs into the mic then 1/4" on the other end to plug into an effects pedal, but the mic is run on phantom power so i probably just need to get another mic

 

[lemur821]

I play Erhu, and I mic it with a Rode NT-2a, so you could always consider using a '57 on a mic stand or something...

An amplified erhu must be terrible to behold... those things sound like they're amplified even when they're not!

 

[geoffkhan]

yeah i was thinking about just micing the thing. but my microphone has xlr plug in. i need a cable that xlr plugs into the mic then 1/4" on the other end to plug into an effects pedal, but the mic is run on phantom power so i probably just need to get another mic

Another mic, or you could always get a phantom power box. Probably the simplest solution would be to get another mic, of course.

An amplified erhu must be terrible to behold... those things sound like they're amplified even when they're not!

Terrible to behold when I play it, yes.

Actually I use the mic for recording purposes, not really amplification.

 

[lemur821]

Actually I use the mic for recording purposes, not really amplification.

Thank goodness. I was starting to get jumpy, expecting to hear the sound of an erhu wafting over the hills. I do believe it would carry a good distance.