which string is which?

[anjinsan]

hello.
Well I got my Erhu today. And since my chinese vocabulary runs to ordering takeaway, I have no idea which string is which. I presume the thicker string is D and goes on the inside closest to the body and the A string is the thinner?

Any advice on applying the rosin would be useful too.

Thanks in advance for all answers, I'm sure they'll all be helpful

[calden]

Correct on the strings.

Rosin: On a new bow which has had no rosin at all, I find it helpful to gently shave/scrape some rosin off the cake. You want powder, not little crystal-looking shards. Pulverize it to a powder. Apply this to the bowhair - gently rub it in a loose bow with your fingers or a small brush - you want to really get rosin all through the hair. Shake off (gently) the excess and. after you've washed your hands well, removed the dust mask and fumigated your living area of all the rosin dust, (ha ha) play hard to get rid of the over-rosin scratchy sound.

I know I've related this before.... when visiting China I recall seeing a music store worker rosining up some new bows. She had a bow-length tray of rosin powder and was taking each bow, completely loosening and taking off the hair from the frog end, and bouncing the hair in the tray, really powdering it up with rosin. There were clouds of rosing dust all over. No wonder so many people get tuberculosis in China. It's not the coal smoke, it's erhu rosin dust! It's lame humor, I know, but you don't want to breathe this stuff. When it gets moist, as in your nice humid lungs, it turns into gummy glue.

On a bow that's been rosined before, rub the cake on the hair, front and back, in short 2-3" strokes up and down, while tensioning the bowhair. Getting rosin on the bow side of the bowhair is easy - just put the cake in between the hair and bow and rub away. To apply it to the non-bow side, you have to get your fingers between the bow and hair and hold it away from the bow so when you rub the rosin it won't just push the hair onto the bow.

When rosining, I usually hold the erhu in my lap, skin side up, and hold the bow in my left hand straight up so the bow tip is "caught" in the strings. I can then apply rosin with my right hand. I find this easier and quicker than removing the bow from the instrument.

Carlos

[jetz320]

Rosin, what calden said. Strings, they tell you. If you have erhu music, it tells you the symbol. If you have the music, just look that up. The back string character is a box with a line on top in the center. Some other strokes are also on the character.

[maaltan]

calden said:

When rosining, I usually hold the erhu in my lap, skin side up, and hold the bow in my left hand straight up so the bow tip is "caught" in the strings. I can then apply rosin with my right hand. I find this easier and quicker than removing the bow from the instrument.

Carlos

i rosin the same way except i place the box my rosin came in between the tip of bow and the neck to give me something to prop the bow against while rosining. It prevents me from putting pressure on the strings.

[damien]

It's also very helpful to have yourself a jointless bow so that you can take it on or off easily.
I did the same as Carlos and smothered my new bow in rosin and it works very well when in powder form.

I still can't find any rosin thats in powder form, maybe i will find some one day.

[maaltan]

I would guess powdered rosin would not be sellable. the first time it got warm it would fuse back together. Mixing it with talc MIGHT prevent that but it would probably affect its qualities.

Everything ive read says to just take a hammer to a block of rosin in a plastic bag.

For my new bow, I just sit down in front of the tv and applied rosin to the very loose boy normally for about an hour. I spred the hairs apart so it would penetrate. I should also mention that im slightly alergic to the rosin and i live in a tiny appartment. All that free rosin would not be pretty.

[damien]

Rosin can make my hands feel itchy so i wear latex rubber gloves, a pain because latex can't be good when i massage the rosin in, but very lightly and it works no problem. I do like the smell for some reason.