I was setting up some Erhus for a customer the other day. The bows on the new Erhus came without rosin. If anyone of you have rosined a new bow before, you'll know the amount of effort it takes to rosin a new bow. For the first two bows, I used this Shanghai Dunhuang rosin and the effect is pretty good. It gave a smooth bowing action.
Since I had to setup 15 Erhus, I got a little lazy after a while and brought out this box of rosin powder that I bought from Frankfurt a few years back. They use rosin powder in factories to rosin a bow in the quickest time by bathing the bow hair in the rosin powder and giving it a little 'scrub' to work the rosin into the hairs.
I gave it a try on the Erhu and it sounded really awful. It sounded so harsh and sandy - like a old record with loads of static. I was wondering if there is something wrong with this particular Erhu. Are the strings are rusted? twisted? or I just got a lemon. Finally, I had a flash of brilliance and took one of the earlier bows I rosined with a rosin cake and tried it on the Erhu. Tada! The problem lies with the bloody bow I rosined with the cake powder.
I think what happened is the humid weather of Singapore caused some of the rosin powder to lump together into not so fine powder but small particles. These are the things that are causing the static sounds. Coupled with the fact that my colleague grinded some other 100 brands of cheap rosins and mixed them into the powder box - you have a recipe for disaster.
By the time I figured all these out, my colleague has already bathed another 12 bows in that extremely dangerous powder keg. We ended up washing the bows in soapy water. When it dried, we had a double hard time rosining the bow with rosin cake because apparently the soap we used has 'moisturizing properties'.
Some lessons can be learned here:
- Be patient when rosining your new bow.
- A good rosin does matters.
- When you get static sounds and can feel the small particles when bowing, its time to change/wash the bow.
- Bow hair don't need moisturizing. Mild dish soup will do.
The Erhu Rubber Band Trick
Got this tip from my good friend/customer Claude in Canada who got it from some Taiwan Erhu performer he met.
Take a piece of rubber band and cut it . Take the rubber band and lodge it between the two strings just before and after the qianjing. I've tried it and find that it takes away some noise. Your Erhu will sound slightly cleaner, but some of the edge in the tone is lost. You decide.
Here's how it looks like:
Ok, I'll like to add another picture. This is the original idea from Claude. A rubber band just below the qianjing instead. I added the rubber band above the qianjing as well in the original picture because I saw Mr SYR put a piece of cloth in between the strings just above the qianjing for noise reduction.
It sure looks neater.
Take a piece of rubber band and cut it . Take the rubber band and lodge it between the two strings just before and after the qianjing. I've tried it and find that it takes away some noise. Your Erhu will sound slightly cleaner, but some of the edge in the tone is lost. You decide.
Here's how it looks like:
Ok, I'll like to add another picture. This is the original idea from Claude. A rubber band just below the qianjing instead. I added the rubber band above the qianjing as well in the original picture because I saw Mr SYR put a piece of cloth in between the strings just above the qianjing for noise reduction.
It sure looks neater.
New Batch of Lu Lin Sheng Erhus
Our new batch of Lu Lin Sheng Erhus just arrived yesterday.
For the uninitiated, Lu Lin Sheng is a famous Erhu maker from Suzhou. His Erhus have won several local and international awards.
Personally, I find that the workmanship of his Erhus to be very good. The snake-skin on the sound resonator is done pretty tight, so the tone on the bright and sharp side. There is however, a lot of room for the tone of the instrument to improve. You need a few months of constant playing to break in the instrument. When that is done, you'll find an Erhu that is so sweet and warm.
This batch also includes Erhus made of Premium Aged Rosewood:
Here are the rest:
Ebony Sandalwood
Small Leaf Sandalwood
By the way, this Japanese Erhu online store is selling Lu Lin Sheng Erhus at 2-3 times the price of mine. You can check out the website here.
For the uninitiated, Lu Lin Sheng is a famous Erhu maker from Suzhou. His Erhus have won several local and international awards.
Personally, I find that the workmanship of his Erhus to be very good. The snake-skin on the sound resonator is done pretty tight, so the tone on the bright and sharp side. There is however, a lot of room for the tone of the instrument to improve. You need a few months of constant playing to break in the instrument. When that is done, you'll find an Erhu that is so sweet and warm.
This batch also includes Erhus made of Premium Aged Rosewood:
Here are the rest:
Ebony Sandalwood
Small Leaf Sandalwood
By the way, this Japanese Erhu online store is selling Lu Lin Sheng Erhus at 2-3 times the price of mine. You can check out the website here.
Hooray! My Dizi splitted!
Was showing Mr BCK of Singapore Chinese Orchestra a splitted Dizi the other day. (Mr BCK incidentally is the one in the video "How to fix the dimo")
He says he is always very happy when his Dizi splits. This shows that the bamboo is of good quality. The tone that comes out of the Dizi will be crisp and clear. He'll just use super glue to fill the cracks and continue to use it. Of course the Dizi it might not look as nice as before.
But don't you go running to your fireplace with your Dizis to deliberately crack them...
He says he is always very happy when his Dizi splits. This shows that the bamboo is of good quality. The tone that comes out of the Dizi will be crisp and clear. He'll just use super glue to fill the cracks and continue to use it. Of course the Dizi it might not look as nice as before.
But don't you go running to your fireplace with your Dizis to deliberately crack them...
The Tilting Bridge of Erhu....
If you look closely at the picture, the Erhu bridge is tilted slightly in the anti-clockwise direction.
According to SYR, a 1st grade Erhu performer in China, this actually keeps the strings more in tune. Especially useful when he is doing solo performances.
He also says it must turned in the anti-clockwise direction rather than clockwise direction. Never really asked him why. Perhaps the next time when he comes back to Singapore...
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