Erhu Inner String Sounds Awful

[Tara]

Hi, this is my first post, though I've been lurking around for several weeks.

I purchased an erhu off Ebay because I simply wanted to just get a feel for what it was like to play before I spent a lot of money on a quality erhu. The erhu I purchased was used and priced considerably cheap. So I wasn't expecting much from it. It appears to be quite used, but it doesn't have any severe body flaws other than a very, very small crack at the bottom underside of the drum barrel.

The outside (A) string plays fairly decent, but the inner string (D) has a harsh, rash, and kind of wispy/or airy sound and is very scratchy. My bow is brand new. I'm wondering if I didn't over-rosin my bow. I used Super Sensitive violin bow rosin. I play violin, so the over-rosining issue was the first thing which came to mind, so I wiped the bow down to remove a large majority of the rosin, and I don't think it helped very much. I'm also considering that the problem could be due to my bowing, the quality of the erhu, or other factors such as the qianjing, bridge, strings, etc. I had to tie the qianjing myself, but I think I got that pretty much right, though I didn't have anything other than cotton string to use for now. Any suggestions on how I might troubleshoot this sound problem or advice is greatly appreciated.

The erhu has no label, markings, or writing on it to identify who made it or anything. I would be glad to post photos of it or anything else that might help. Maybe someone could tell me more about it and what I can expect from it from photos.

Thanks in advance for all replies!

Tara

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to the forum, Tara. I look forward to your posts.

It can be a challenge to track down problems on an erhu since everything matters. Some things are easy to check or fix, such as strings, bow, bridge, and damper pad. Other things like the snake skin, you are stuck with.

Too much rosin on the bow usually just makes a mess, rather than sounding bad. I usually have the opposite problem of not enough rosin. It it is a good idea to clean up rosin dust on the erhu body, and any sticking to the string. A good European violin rosin should be fine.

Since you have a used erhu, there is no way to know how old the strings are. It would be a simple matter to relace the strings with a good set of new strings. You can get good strings from a variety of places online, including Eason in Singapore. It is hard to recommend a specific brand, since strings tend to work better on one erhu and not as well on another. I have some extra Dunhuang strings if you want to give them a try.

The bridge can make a big difference. Usually the bridge should be in the center, but sometimes you can improve the sound by moving it up or down a little. Sometimes there are flaws in the snake skin that can be mitigated by moving the bridge a little. If the bridge itself is the problem, try a different bridge or turn the bridge around. If the sound problem moves to the other string, then you have the smoking gun.

I have had sound problems that were fixed by retying the quanjin and adjusting the damper pad. You might also check the strings to make sure they were properly installed, and not crossing paths anywhere.

Sometimes you have done all you can, and the erhu still sounds like a dog, or rather an angry cat. Maybe there is a problem with the snake skin that cannot be fixed. An experienced player might notice if the skin is too tight, too loose, too thick, or too thin. A good skin can be damaged by improper installation by a careless or inexperienced maker.

Often times a cheap erhu comes with a cheap bow. A used bow that is worn out might not take enough rosin to effectively grab the strings. A really good erhu bow is not very expensive, although it can take a while and elbow grease to get rosined up properly.

Go ahead and post photos, if you like. Maybe one of us will spot something off. Just load the photos to a publicly-accessible website, and post the links.

Best wishes,

David