Guitar production accounts for 1/4 of the world, 65% of the country's market, and more than 80% of the world's ukulele comes from here...

Since 1991, the Taiwan-funded enterprise Yusheng Musical Instruments (formerly "Yocheng Musical Instruments and Woodware Factory") moved from Taiwan to Huiyang Qiuchang. After more than 20 years of development, Huiyang has owned more than 200 guitar and related enterprises, forming a starting point from the supply of raw materials. , semi-finished products, electronic hardware accessories, CNC machinery and other complete industrial chain, the products cover all types of guitars such as classical guitar, folk guitar, electric guitar, ukulele and so on.

At the same time, a large number of professionals in design, R&D, production and sales have gathered here. The first guitar made in mainland China to international standards was also born in Huiyang.

At present, Huiyang is planning to build Qiuchang into a national guitar characteristic town and make the guitar industry bigger and stronger. On April 21 this year, the first Guangdong Guitar (Huiyang) Invitational Competition and Huiyang Guitar Culture and Art Festival will be held.

Starting from this issue, we will take "a guitar industry chain" as the observation object, and visit the key enterprises in the Huiyang guitar industry chain, in order to do a panoramic scan of the development status of the entire guitar industry.

In New York, the United States, the guitar made by the master musician Kelly has won everyone's favor. The reason is that the material for his guitar is the waste wood from the old buildings in the city. His guitar is not only a witness to the history of New York, but also makes the waste wood have new life.

Seeing this, if you think that the wood used to make the guitar is "random", then you are wrong!

"A good guitar requires good wood!"

As the largest guitar production base in the country, in Qiuchang Street, Huiyang District, Huizhou City, both guitar raw material supply companies and guitar finished product manufacturers have a high degree of recognition for this sentence.

Different species of trees, different growth areas, different cutting methods, and the selection of different guitar parts will have a great impact on the sound of the finished guitar.

In Huiyang Qiuchang, whether it is from the headstock, the nut to the fingerboard, or from the top, side to the back, the companies that are deeply involved in the guitar wood industry chain have their own characteristics. Although there is competition, there are few intersections. Share the "cake" of the guitar wood market together.

Their products eventually come together to become the "foundation" of a guitar, just for the best "tone".

●Nanfang Daily reporter Zhang Xin

Every piece of wood from which a guitar is made has a distinct personality

"Being able to play the guitar doesn't mean knowing the guitar!"

Zhang Fuqiang has forged an indissoluble bond with the guitar since his parents shipped wood to Qiuchang, Huiyang in the early 1990s.

"After a piece of log is processed and made, only about 30% of it may be effectively used in the end!" Zhang Fuqiang has a clear and complete understanding of "wood becomes guitar".

If you walk around the wood warehouse of the plus wood industry, you will be infected by the charm of wood: dozens of kinds of wood are stored in the warehouse, every inch of the air seems to be sprinkled with various pine scented perfumes, workers and cutters Been busy all the time, getting the most out of every piece of wood.

Zhang Fuqiang introduced that every piece of wood used to make guitars has its own distinct personality. Even if the wood with the same name is grown in different environments such as age, geography, and climate, it will affect the hardness, density, and texture distribution of the wood grain, thereby affecting the tone of the guitar.

Of course, turning wood into a guitar involves a lot of work, mainly involving the making of the guitar barrel, handle and fretboard.

For example, in the production of barrels, there are processes such as blanking, barrel closing, edging and grinding; in the production of handles, there are the processes of planing, forming and grinding; in the production of fingerboards, planing, forming, edging and bottom grinding are required. After all the processes are completed, it is necessary to assemble, polish, spray primer, ground primer, color, spray topcoat, polish topcoat, polish, assemble, pack, and store. If it is all handmade, there are more than 300 processes.

"You can't make a piano right after the wood is imported, and it will take 1 to 3 years to dry naturally." Zhang Fuqiang told reporters that the wood for making guitars can only be dried naturally, because drying will destroy the original cellular structure of the wood, and then The desired sound effect cannot be achieved.

As a result, there are several constant temperature and humidity rooms in the warehouse of the plus wood industry, which are specially used to store different kinds of wood.

Due to the very high standards of wood used for making guitars, in Huiyang Qiuchang, guitar wood suppliers such as Jiacheng Wood have strict requirements for the wood they supply.

"Acacia, mahogany, rosewood, ebony, and sapele are all common varieties. If you divide them carefully, there are forty or fifty varieties." Zhang Fuqiang said, for example, the panel that has the greatest impact on guitar tone, usually Using spruce wood, its high density, hard material, good sound graininess, balanced high and low bass resonance, whether it is playing classical music or pop music is very pleasant.

However, considering that some species of guitar wood are on the verge of extinction, such as the rare rosewood used to make guitar fingerboards is facing the danger of depletion, Zhang Fuqiang is teaming up with his largest supplier to jointly develop non-rosewood fingerboards. At the same time, realize the protection of endangered tree species.

Planting and picking wood overseas

The most basic commonality of a good guitar is: pitch, timbre, feel, and box resonance should be achieved according to the characteristics of different materials.

"In Huiyang, the classification and division of labor of guitar wood companies is very fine, each with its own characteristics and no conflict with each other. Similar to the company that specializes in front panels, there are five or six companies, but if you count the nut and fingerboard There are about 30 manufacturers of grain wood in the guitar barrel, side panels, and even the grain wood in the guitar barrel." Yan Wei, secretary-general of the Huiyang Guitar Industry Association, revealed.

Similar to the entrepreneurial experience of Jiacheng Wood, the main business of guitar side panels and plywood is also an enterprise founded by Taiwanese businessmen in Qiuchang.

"I chose to start a business in Huiyang because the market here is the largest, and I can't find a second place in the world!" said Zhuang Henghui, deputy manager. Since his parents came to Huiyang to set up a factory 18 years ago, they produce 200,000 sets of guitars per month. More than 60% of the boards and plywood are "digested locally" in Huiyang, and the rest are sold to Fujian or exported overseas.

Compared with the guitar wood enterprises founded by the old batch of Taiwanese businessmen such as Jiacheng and Shenghui, Wu Hailang of Haitai Wood Processing is a "latecomer" and an entrepreneur in Qiuchang's local guitar-related industry.

Before 2009, he was working in a Taiwan-funded guitar company, and then he started his own business and started a guitar pickup. After some failures, Wu Hailang began to aim at making guitar necks in 2014.

"In the past, the necks had to be made by hand. When I entered the business, I spent half a year looking for a machine." Wu Hailang said, based on his understanding of guitars, after some improvements, he bought an engraving machine from a machinery factory in Guangzhou. , which broke the situation that the local neck production was all manual.

According to the calculation, after using the machine to replace the labor, 8 of the 23 processes of making the neck can be saved, and 3 people can be saved, and the cost can be reduced by about 30%.

In addition to using machines to "reduce costs", since most of the guitar wood needs to be imported, Bofeng Wood, which is also engaged in the guitar sheet business in Qiuchang, is taking a "transfer path".