Tale of the broken bow

[ychent]

So after receiving my new erhu about three months back, the frog of the bow (the part that attaches the hair to the adjustable screw) broke after only one month of playing. Just, broke. It broke cleanly in half, rendering my bow useless. While I could fancy myself that it broke because I was practicing so diligently everyday, really, that's not possible since I was only putting in 1-to-1.5 hours per day at most, no more than what I've done before, and the bow I got from Eason almost an year ago now is still in top-notch condition. Convinced that I had on my hand a defective product, I contacted Cadenza and asked for a replacement. And not so surprisingly, I got the same treatment I received while purchasing the erhu: silence. I never heard a word from them; no argument, nothing.

After waiting for two weeks I took the matter into my own hand, and set out to superglue the frog back together. It was a tenuous ordeal; after few failed trials, I enlisted a friend who was a dental student to help me. Practiced in the art of dental fillings and mold modeling, she helped me sand out the rough edges, re-profiled the surface and finally re-attach the frog into one piece.

Thanks to my friend, I had a working bow for few more month--until it broke again. It seems that broken frogs are just not meant to be whole again; what was defective cannot be patched together even with superglue. And of course, my repeat attempt to contact Cadenza to ask them to honor their warranty was again met with silence.

Whether or not the owner of Cadenza has legitimate reason to be ignoring his customers, the conclusion is clear: Cadenza is in no shape or form to be operating business. If you try to do business with them, you are more than likely to experience the silence and indifference that I've endured, that I've heard from many, many unhappy customers. Bottom line: buying erhu from Cadenza is probably a poor choice right now; save yourself some time, money, and frustration. There are many other reputable erhu stores who honor and respect their customers.

PS: I will post the pictures of the broken bow if anyone can show me how to post pictures here

[jetz320]

alot of people here are always talking about this issue with Cadenza Music not being responsive to the costumers. the "frogs" or joint of the bow, it is maybe a low quality bow. i suggest that you get a master made bow. generally, i prefer the beijing bows. shanghai bows seem uncomforatble for me since they are rough. beijing bows are pretty smooth with the platice covering it.

[calden]

Beijing bows are a bit thicker and heavier, too. I like that, although I'm thinking of switching for a while back to one of my other bows just to see.

Talking about malfunctions....

I just started a new student and, as is my policy, gave him my loaner erhu (I give a new student an erhu and a few xeroxed lessons to get them started, for about a month, before they make the commitment to regular lessons and purchase of an instrument. They like that no-pressure feeling and it helps created a positive expectation for further study.) He came back with it yesterday, and one of the pegs had come loose, unwinding the string. When retightening it, I noticed that the neck was actually slightly twisted out of alignment with the body. The pegs were not lined up with the center axis of the barrel, although the neck at the barrel was fine. This meant that the wood had actually warped a bit. It's still playable, but is a reminder of how climate change and variations, compared to the location of instrument manufacture, can affect these beasties.

Carlos

[davidmdahl]

I had good service from Cadenza for a good while, but unfortunately this has changed. Now I get my erhu supplies from Eason.

I like Shanghai bows, since they are a little longer, but sometimes the extra bushiness in the bow hair does not fit well with the string spacing on my bridge. I have a few Beijing bows to wear out before deciding what to get next.

Bows are relatively inexpensive, even for a really good one, and an order from Eason arrives quickly. I suggest buying a few at once so you have something in reserve. Shipping for two bows is not much more than for one.

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Best wishes,

David

[Charlie Huang]

I am probably the one here who had recent dealings with Cadenza (a few weeks back). They did respond. Of course, I cannot comment on other things since I do not have much experience with them. I had one failed order from them which I let pass (it was 4 HUGO CDs).

I ordered some qin strings and pipa strings (a year or so back) from them and that went fine. The recent order was for a qinxiao (they actually recorded sound samples from two and asked me to chose). The qinxiao I chose had a crack in it but this was highlighted to me before purchase and I accepted it with that knowledge (I repaired the crack myself with lacquer at home and now it is as good as it can be).

I think one of the main issues is that staff are constantly busy all the time.

[annk]

My experience with ordering supplies from Eason is that e-mails are answered immediately, and orders are shipped promptly. I have no experience with Cadenza, so I can't comment on that.

After using my first Beijing bow about 5 hours per week for a year, it was time to replace it. So don't worry too much about it breaking, they are very, very inexpensive, and you really need to replace it once in a while anyway, in lieu of getting it rehaired.