Friday, February 22, 2008

Groovy Erhu Bridges

Have you noticed something about the grooves on the bridge of the Erhu? If you look closely, one of the grooves is always bigger than the other. The bigger groove is for the inner string while the outer string.

Someone asked me how does the height of the bridge affect the sound of the Erhu. Well, a higher bridge would give a brighter and sharper tone to the instrument. Usually after sometime of playing or due climate changes, the snakeskin on the Erhu might start to sag. The notes might sound a little less distinct to the point of being muffled. In this case you might want to change to a higher bridge to bring back some clarity.

Also, when the snakeskin is sagging, the strings might touch the resonator when you are doing pressing vibrato at the high registers. Changing to a higher bridge would resolve the problem.

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So what's up lately? We had some new models of Erhus: A less expensive Wan Qi Xing Rosewood Erhu and this model of Shanghai Dunhuang Ebony Erhu without the bronze tuning mechanisms. Pictures and sample clips will be posted soon.

Those who are interested in owning a Wang Gen Xing Erhu will have to wait a while now. My stocks are gone and he does not have any stocks left. He asked me to check back in March to see if he has gotten the raw materials to start making. If you are interested please let me know early, there is a queue forming.

Also, the below Erhu hardcase will be available sometime middle of March.





It comes in 3 colors - black, silver and red!

(Retail price is US$79. Shipping cost to be confirmed.)

5 comments:

  1. hi, may i know what kind of red is the hard casing?

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  2. sorry, i am quite interested in a wang gen xing erhu as well. may i also know how much roughly it will actually cost and do you know of any way of how to see if an erhu is good or bad?

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  3. Hi tzw,

    I'll try to get a photo of it. The new casings might miss our March shipment though. Please email me at tansungwah@eason.com.sg

    Thanks!
    Sung Wah

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  4. hello, i have been looking for such a casing for a long time.

    may i know when will the shipment be in, and how much will the total cost be in Sing dollars?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Han,

    It will be around S$100. The cases will be completed middle of March, which means it will miss our next shipment. So the earliest you'll see them in our store is end April. I'll post an update through my blog.

    ReplyDelete