Sunday, August 5, 2007

The Best Erhu I came across so far...

My first blog entry and I decided to blog about one of the best Erhu I came across recently.

Its a Tianjin Erhu made of really old Aged Rosewood. I got it from Mr SYR, who is 1st grade Erhu performer in China. Here's how the story goes: During the Erhu competition held somewhere in China this year, SYR was as one of the judges for the competition. One of the sponsors for the event, a Erhu Manufacturer "NZ" invited him to try their Erhus. SYR had a yank at them and wasn't too disappointed, but wasn't too impressed either. Determine to impress SYR, NZ brought out some of their best stocks for SYR. SYR immediately took possession of one Erhu that is different from the rest. Now this SYR has more than 100 erhus in his personal collection and he knows a good Erhu when he sees one. In addition to creme of the crop that he picked, he also put in a few of his own touches to bring out the best in the Erhu.

The result is an Erhu with balanced inner and outer string, loud volume, clear and penetrative highs and an unbelievably sweet tone. It has a voice that somehow captures your attention and brings you back in time.

Well, too good for me and too bad for any of you who are thinking of having a go at it, the Erhu was sold. I thought I was going to hold on to it for a little while longer but a customer came along and fell in love with it. She bought it for her daughter who was going to start learning Erhu. Lucky kid. I hope she perseveres and do justice to the instrument.

This is also the most expensive Erhu that I have sold to date, but it is worth every cent. An extremely good Erhu with the x-factor is hard to come by. You might find another Erhu with the same specifications but well, it just doesn't sound the same.

Ok, this is what I have been talking about:


5 comments:

  1. Well, next time you come across another one like that, tell me, I am going to buy it, serious ! :)

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  2. Sure Claude. I'll blog about it so everyone can see it here as well. :)

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  3. Yup - lucky kid. How much is that "very good" erhu, by the way? But with the rough & tumble little kids get to... I'd be wary of passing a child a good erhu (my mind thinking of the worst case scenario already!).

    I did promise my son that we could look for a good red-coloured wood erhu when he gets to an advanced stage, since Red is his favourite colour.

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  4. Well, it costs close to US$1400.

    The lucky kid's pretty proficient with the violin and she has a violin that costs 3-4 times more than the 'very good' erhu. So I guess she's quite familiar with handling expensive instruments.

    Lots of Erhus are red colored wood so you shouldn't have a problem finding one!

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  5. The little "kid" probably is not that young then.

    US$1400 not so ex compared to prices of violins. Anyway, it's not going to be for quite a few more years. He already makes good sound with his current erhu. *haha*.

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