Purchasing an Erhu

[Lisa]

Hello everyone..... I'm new here and I am wondering if anyone has purchased from shoppingchinanow.com??? and if so, what do you think? ;D

[gtbehary]

I purchased mine on Ebay from a person in Florida. Saved a lot on shipping and the erhu is very nice.

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to our forum, Lisa.

I have not personally had any experience with the company you mention. I have purchased from Cadenza Music and Eason Enterprises, both from Singapore, with satisfaction.

It is possible to get an erhu from Ebay, but as with most Ebay deals, it helps to know alot about what you wish to buy. There are a lot of erhu's that are not very good for playing.

If possible, I suggest first trying to locate a teacher. You will need someone to show you the ropes anyway to make a proper start of it. The teacher should have access to good instruments. My own teacher does not deal in instruments, but recommends sources. That is probably the best situation.

Best wishes,

David

[Lisa]

Thanks for the info... nice to see you both from ezfolks as well. For a starter instrument how much is valid for spending on it? I really want to begin gradually and perhaps reward myself later with a well made erhu. I've never played an instrument but this one has captivated me.
I've done alot of reading on here and I am so excited about all the great info.
Calden (hope that is correct) thanks for showing the great pics on the left hand for the strings. More visuals would be of great help.

Lisa

[ross]

Hi

I bought mine from them! Peter was amazingly helpful and corresponded with me by email alot before i bought one.

He delivered it and it took only 2 days to ship to me in Australia.

The erhu is beautiful and sounds magnificent.

[davidmdahl]

The site shoppingchinanow.com lists some rather unorthodox-looking erhu's. It would be fun to try some of them out. I find it particularly interesting some of the models are apparently made of "redwood." Could it possibly be the same redwood we grow in California? Seems unlikely.

Best wishes,

David

[damien]

Can anyone identify this Erhu? Wood, type anyone?



Much appreciated ;D

[song]

Looks like a rosewood erhu. hu qiu brand from Suzhou. quite a familiar brand.

[damien]

Thanks Song...This is on ebay for a starting bid at £10 with £10 postage...A bargain for any Erhu me thinks but only one for the collection.

[davidmdahl]

It is hard to be sure from the photo, but the erhu appears not to have a natural wood finish. The wood seems to have been painted or stained. Is that likely with this brand, Song?

The components on an erhu often tend to match each other in terms of quality. If the snake skin is good, the other parts are probably good as well, since you don't want to waste a good skin on an otherwise poor quality erhu. In this case seeing photos of the skin and other parts might provide a better picture of the quality of the instrument. At the low end of the price and qualilty scale, the type of wood probably is not very important.

Best wishes,

David

[damien]

I agree, snake skin seems to be the most important factor but of course the whole structure makes a good Erhu. If you click on the picture it becomes full screen David...from the other pictures I have seen it's not showing the skin and this Erhu is 3 years old so maybe a miss.

I would like to get an Erhu with diamond python skin if that's the right term. I have heard good things about the quality and just like the look of it...maybe I'm wrong? I don't see many Erhu' with this type.

I do like your Erhus Song and judging just be the look of the skins on the cheaper ones they are of a very good price and of course all of them come with a white horse hair bow, not like many beginner ones I have seen with black hair.

Still not made up my mind on which Erhu I want, but aslong as it's a bright sound and better than the one I have I think I would be happy. For the mean time I might buy a Dizi but I heard it's very very hard to play

[song]

The erhu in the picture looks like an old model by Suzhou Huqiu. The earlier erhus made of not so fantastic wood has very poor finishing. Lacquer probably costs less than drinking water during those days.

Yes, usually the quality of snakeskin would commensurate with the quality of the wood. When choosing a beginner erhu, I tend to look more at the sound rather than the snakeskin.

Its not difficult to get a sound out of the dizi. But to make it sing like a bird, you'll need to put in lot of hours.

By the way, I'm making some short videos to share what I know on some of the basic techniques of playing the erhu - mainly for my customers who might not have access to teaching materials.

Below are two that I have done so far. Hope they teach a thing or two.

How to hold the bow: www.eason.com.sg/documents/erhu1.wmv
How to bow: www.eason.com.sg/documents/erhu2.wmv

Thanks,
Sung Wah

[damien]

That's great news Song, hope to see more videos in the future...Thanks for the tips too

Damien

[jetz320]

I have that brand too. Both of my erhus are from Suzhou. The instrument is great, a very pure and rich tone.

Dizi is a great instrument. It does take tons of practice to become very good though. Also, you would have to buy many supplies for the dimo and erjiao all the time. But overall, its totaly worth it.

[jetz320]

Oh yeah. Which model number is your suzhou erhu? Mine is 5139 i think.

[damien]

It's not mine yet jetz but at this very very low price I might well buy it once paypal sorts out my problems ahhrghh I will let you know if I get it.

[jetz320]

Ok. Sure. The model looks ok, the wood looks very good.

[damien]

Riiight...forget that. I asked for a pic of the snake skin and it was pretty well worn so I retracted the bid.