Post by NikoLeo on May 30, 2022 0:04:42 GMT
Hello everyone! Thank you for running this great forum about Chinese traditional music and erhu in particular.
Here's the erhu I ordered from Lu Linsheng for ¥2300 (~$345): photos.app.goo.gl/vrBwociaPPhLbaBe6
Videos of this model in action (3-star purple pear mahogany):
Note: I added some rough auto-translated subtitles to YouTube videos above (created with Jianwai tool)
I wonder, what's your opinion on it? Do you think it's a good beginner instrument?
---
I come from Eastern Europe, more specifically Belarus, and recently I decided try to learn this wonderful instrument. I'm in my 30s and I enjoy all kinds of music, but hearing the sound of erhu in various OSTs and folk albums always made my heart flutter.
I haven't studied any musical instruments professionally but I took a year of violin when I was a kid. I didn't enjoy it much, plus the teacher wasn't that great, so I quickly abandoned it. Now I only play an acoustic guitar from time to time.
I know erhu is not easy to learn and there's no chance I can find a local teacher where I live. But I like challenges so I'll still give it a shot.
I found some online courses and tutors, but I want to start with self-learning at first. That's why I collected some English language resources and shared them on Reddit (there's a small community of erhu enthusiasts there).
As for buying an erhu, I also did my research and decided to give Taobao a try. Of course, Eason Music Store was the first place I visited. Reputation that Sung Wah built throughout the years seems unbeatable - that's what I could tell from reading the forums and the blogs and by watching his helpful videos on YouTube.
However, shipping rate to my country was really high ($140), plus VAT was added on top of the list price, and that's something I couldn't agree with. I'm too spoiled by AliExpress where I rarely had shipping cost that exceeded 5 bucks. So I thought maybe there's another way to buy a good erhu online.
I looked through some other stores like Sound of Mountain, Red Music Shop, The Bamboo Grove, Eight Tones Music, Harmony Music. But even though shipping rates weren't as high there, I wasn't fully satisfied with their selections, lack of reviews and videos of erhus in action.
So I thought, why not dig deeper and use the same website that a citizen of China would use to buy an erhu? Turns out it's not only possible, but it has been possible for years. All thanks to various Taobao agents and forwarding services who provide you with a Chinese warehouse address and then ship the package to you.
What about CITES, you might ask? Well, I decided to take a risk here. My country is not a member of the EU or EEA, so I hope a customs officer won't ask for any certificates (shipment is still in progress). The package will travel through Kazakhstan and Russia by railway, and because our countries are a part of the Eurasian Economic Union, once it passes the initial check, it should be fine.
Besides, I looked through the reviews of snakeskin erhus on AliExpress and saw some familiar flags there. No one mentioned anything about their packages being seized.
Anyway, I spent some time reading about various erhu factories and masters and came to a conclusion that a factory-made erhu should be enough for me as a beginner. Besides, Eason's most popular erhu also comes from Shanghai Dunhuang.
My budget was $500 max, but it had to include everything: the erhu, accessories, books (if any), shipment, payment fees. I chose to place all the orders myself (instead of paying the agent) and it turned out to be quite a quest. I couldn't pay on Taobao with my debit card (it was rejected), then my AliPay account got restricted (had to verify it from another phone) and in the end only AliPay TourPass worked. It's a service that gives you a virtual Bank of Shanghai card that you can top up with you local card (with a 5% fee). There's a limit of ¥10,000 which was more than enough to my needs. After all these hardships I still saved a bunch of money, plus I didn't have to pay the agent anything in advance.
One brand in particular stood out when I sorted products by sales and reviews - Lu Linsheng. I remembered I also saw this LLS abbreviation in edcat7 's posts, so it gave me more confidence.
After I visited the factory's official website I liked it even more. Turns out they upload free learning videos and do 3-hour long streams almost daily. You can listen to the actual models of erhus that are in stock. I wish I could understand Chinese, but I still found these videos very useful.
At first I wanted to buy a Shanghai tone erhu since I prefer a more voice-like, less like-a-violin sound, but in the end I decided to give this Suzhou brand a try. I was satisfied with what I heard in the videos and the amount of good reviews was on Linsheng's side compared to Dunhuang. I thought that if I didn't like the sound after a year of practice, I could buy myself a Shanghai erhu next. And then maybe a zhonghu too
Since LLS has a direct sales shop on Taobao, it was my preferred store (陆林生乐器旗舰店). And the model I chose was a "3-star purple pear mahogany erhu" (紫花梨红木) for ¥2300 (with a coupon on checkout).
I also found this erhu in another seemingly credible shop - Tianhua Musical Instruments (天华乐器). I liked that the product page had a demo video of each numbered model in action.
So I placed an order and was contacted by the store through AliWangWang app (you need to install it too). They showed me the photos of the instrument and asked if I liked the snakeskin pattern. I said yes and they shipped the package that same day. In two days it arrived to my Taobao agent's warehouse in Guangzhou.
In retrospect I probably should've asked to see more patterns and not agree to the first one shown. I discovered live streams only later and that A3141 design looks more appealing with its larger and brighter scales. But anyway, I'll be happy with A3140 as well. I hope it arrives soon, gonna keep you posted!
Nik
Here's the erhu I ordered from Lu Linsheng for ¥2300 (~$345): photos.app.goo.gl/vrBwociaPPhLbaBe6
Videos of this model in action (3-star purple pear mahogany):
Note: I added some rough auto-translated subtitles to YouTube videos above (created with Jianwai tool)
I wonder, what's your opinion on it? Do you think it's a good beginner instrument?
---
I come from Eastern Europe, more specifically Belarus, and recently I decided try to learn this wonderful instrument. I'm in my 30s and I enjoy all kinds of music, but hearing the sound of erhu in various OSTs and folk albums always made my heart flutter.
I haven't studied any musical instruments professionally but I took a year of violin when I was a kid. I didn't enjoy it much, plus the teacher wasn't that great, so I quickly abandoned it. Now I only play an acoustic guitar from time to time.
I know erhu is not easy to learn and there's no chance I can find a local teacher where I live. But I like challenges so I'll still give it a shot.
I found some online courses and tutors, but I want to start with self-learning at first. That's why I collected some English language resources and shared them on Reddit (there's a small community of erhu enthusiasts there).
As for buying an erhu, I also did my research and decided to give Taobao a try. Of course, Eason Music Store was the first place I visited. Reputation that Sung Wah built throughout the years seems unbeatable - that's what I could tell from reading the forums and the blogs and by watching his helpful videos on YouTube.
However, shipping rate to my country was really high ($140), plus VAT was added on top of the list price, and that's something I couldn't agree with. I'm too spoiled by AliExpress where I rarely had shipping cost that exceeded 5 bucks. So I thought maybe there's another way to buy a good erhu online.
I looked through some other stores like Sound of Mountain, Red Music Shop, The Bamboo Grove, Eight Tones Music, Harmony Music. But even though shipping rates weren't as high there, I wasn't fully satisfied with their selections, lack of reviews and videos of erhus in action.
So I thought, why not dig deeper and use the same website that a citizen of China would use to buy an erhu? Turns out it's not only possible, but it has been possible for years. All thanks to various Taobao agents and forwarding services who provide you with a Chinese warehouse address and then ship the package to you.
What about CITES, you might ask? Well, I decided to take a risk here. My country is not a member of the EU or EEA, so I hope a customs officer won't ask for any certificates (shipment is still in progress). The package will travel through Kazakhstan and Russia by railway, and because our countries are a part of the Eurasian Economic Union, once it passes the initial check, it should be fine.
Besides, I looked through the reviews of snakeskin erhus on AliExpress and saw some familiar flags there. No one mentioned anything about their packages being seized.
Anyway, I spent some time reading about various erhu factories and masters and came to a conclusion that a factory-made erhu should be enough for me as a beginner. Besides, Eason's most popular erhu also comes from Shanghai Dunhuang.
My budget was $500 max, but it had to include everything: the erhu, accessories, books (if any), shipment, payment fees. I chose to place all the orders myself (instead of paying the agent) and it turned out to be quite a quest. I couldn't pay on Taobao with my debit card (it was rejected), then my AliPay account got restricted (had to verify it from another phone) and in the end only AliPay TourPass worked. It's a service that gives you a virtual Bank of Shanghai card that you can top up with you local card (with a 5% fee). There's a limit of ¥10,000 which was more than enough to my needs. After all these hardships I still saved a bunch of money, plus I didn't have to pay the agent anything in advance.
One brand in particular stood out when I sorted products by sales and reviews - Lu Linsheng. I remembered I also saw this LLS abbreviation in edcat7 's posts, so it gave me more confidence.
After I visited the factory's official website I liked it even more. Turns out they upload free learning videos and do 3-hour long streams almost daily. You can listen to the actual models of erhus that are in stock. I wish I could understand Chinese, but I still found these videos very useful.
At first I wanted to buy a Shanghai tone erhu since I prefer a more voice-like, less like-a-violin sound, but in the end I decided to give this Suzhou brand a try. I was satisfied with what I heard in the videos and the amount of good reviews was on Linsheng's side compared to Dunhuang. I thought that if I didn't like the sound after a year of practice, I could buy myself a Shanghai erhu next. And then maybe a zhonghu too
Since LLS has a direct sales shop on Taobao, it was my preferred store (陆林生乐器旗舰店). And the model I chose was a "3-star purple pear mahogany erhu" (紫花梨红木) for ¥2300 (with a coupon on checkout).
I also found this erhu in another seemingly credible shop - Tianhua Musical Instruments (天华乐器). I liked that the product page had a demo video of each numbered model in action.
So I placed an order and was contacted by the store through AliWangWang app (you need to install it too). They showed me the photos of the instrument and asked if I liked the snakeskin pattern. I said yes and they shipped the package that same day. In two days it arrived to my Taobao agent's warehouse in Guangzhou.
In retrospect I probably should've asked to see more patterns and not agree to the first one shown. I discovered live streams only later and that A3141 design looks more appealing with its larger and brighter scales. But anyway, I'll be happy with A3140 as well. I hope it arrives soon, gonna keep you posted!
Nik
