Is my Erhu malfunctioning?

[noddah]

Hey guys!
So I started to learn to play the Erhu just last week, and since I'm from Brazil, it's hard, almost impossible to find Erhu teachers in the city I live so I'm struggling to learn by myself.
One thing that I noticed that's bothering me a lot, is when I play high notes (this starts to bother me starting from the E in the A string) it seems to have a duplicate detuned note. It sounds like I'm playing 2 notes at a time on the same string, where the second note is juuust a little detuned from the main note I'm trying to play.
I left a recording playing the E on the A string and a small section of a song where it's easier to notice this issue (paying attention to the E).
Since I'm a beginner, I know that I have a looot to learn specially on bow technique, but from bowing incorrectly, I'm not sure if I should only hear the string as if it was being "scratched" or if this 'detuning' thing is really a problem on my bow or something. It is really noticeable in higher notes, altough I can't really switch positions at this point.
Here's the recording vocaroo.com/i/s0zGWSeJoMwc
Thank you for the attention, 
Eyi.

[kenste]

I don't know what to suggest (besides making sure the bow is rosined, and messing around with the placement of the bridge and damper), but whatever song you played sounded really nice! Do you have the name of it or better yet the jianpu?

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to the forum, Noddah. From your description and sound recording, I think that the pad under the strings below the bridge is either missing or needs adjustment. If the pad is too loose or too tight, the sound will not be good. I think your pad is too loose, but move it toward the bridge or base and see how tht sound changes. It may be necessary to pull the pad out to refold it so that it puts more pressure on the skin.


Best wishes,

David

[noddah]

Oct 21, 2015 23:59:27 GMT kenste said:

I don't know what to suggest (besides making sure the bow is rosined, and messing around with the placement of the bridge and damper), but whatever song you played sounded really nice! Do you have the name of it or better yet the jianpu?

The song is called Broken Moon, from touhou, and sorry I don't have the jianpu for it. xD

[noddah]

Oct 22, 2015 5:57:05 GMT davidmdahl said:

Welcome to the forum, Noddah. From your description and sound recording, I think that the pad under the strings below the bridge is either missing or needs adjustment. If the pad is too loose or too tight, the sound will not be good. I think your pad is too loose, but move it toward the bridge or base and see how tht sound changes. It may be necessary to pull the pad out to refold it so that it puts more pressure on the skin.


Best wishes,

David

Thank you very much!
Btw, I've watched a few videos on how to set up the Erhu and that's the closest I could get to what was shown to me. I don't have that 'cloth' kind of pad, mine is a little different and I don't know if I can or should replace it with something I can find easily somewhere around. Anyway, here's how mine is:

[song]

David is pretty spot on in his assessment. The cackling sound is most probably due to the damper. The sponge that you have is not very effective. You need a dense thick cloth that does not change its shape when you pull it sideways. You can try using tissue paper in place of your sponge and see if there is any improvement.

SW