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2 Ways to Fine Tune Your Erhu
Types of Dizi
October 20, 2015Dizi: Dimo VS Tape
October 27, 20152 Ways to Fine Tune Your Erhu
About 95% of Erhus come with friction pegs, and all the good/expensive/valuable Erhu come with friction pegs.
If you have tuned an Erhu with friction pegs before, you would agree that it is sometimes difficult to get it exactly in tune. When it’s a little flat and you would like turn the peg just a little to get it in tune, it goes a little sharp. Then you turn it loose a little and it becomes a too flat.
Fortunately, there are 2 ways you can fine tune the open strings of your Erhu with friction pegs.
1. Fix Metal adjusters
You can buy 2 metal adjusters and attach them on the strings of your Erhu.
By turning the knobs/screws of the adjuster, you increase the tension or release the tension the screw exerts on the string by that wee bit. When tension changes, the pitch of your Erhu changes as well.
You can purchase the metal adjusters from our online store here.
Well, if you are a purist and do not like metal things on your Erhu, you can try method 2.
2. DIY string adjusters
Here is an easy do-it-yourself way to fine tune your Erhu.
You will need some qianjin strings and a scissors. Preferably qianjin strings because it is thick and has enough friction.
What you do is to loop the qianjin string over the neck, then over one string and tie a knot. Do this for both strings.
When you move the string adjusters up, the string are pulled slightly. Thus, increasing the pitch.
Before you start, make sure that your Erhu string is looped at the end of your pegs and the qianjin is pulling the Erhu strings at a slight angle. If they are not, just loosen and bunch them up.
We have made a video below to show you how to fix the metal adjusters, as well as, the DIY string adjuster.
If you find this useful, do leave a comment or share it with your friends.
8 Comments
Interesting about the DIY tuners. Thanks!
Thanks Robert!
My friend told me about the DIY method but he did not explain how it works. After watching your video, now I understand.
Thank you.
Fred
Thanks Fred!
Hi T.S.W
Thanks for DIY tip. So simple and effective and it works a treat.
Regards
A.K
Gracias, Thank you, Friend.
I went from a beginners erhu to an aged rosewood dunhuang. The old one had bronze tuners, the new one pegs. I tried your tips on keeping the pegs from slipping and they helped but I was still reduced to tears, especially when I put the erhu back in its case and the string released when it hit the side of the case. As a result the nut, the bridge and the felt all fell out. I lost two bridges. I went back to playing my old urhu.
Your DIY looks good and I’ll try it as the fine tuners fell off too. However, I discovered a metal stop with adjusting screw on Amazon and Ali express which goes on the peg against the neck and stops it from slipping. This is probably akin to valdalising a good erhu, but now I can play it and it sounds so good.
Yes the erhu pegs slipping out totally is one of the most annoying things about playing erhu. Please try the fine tuner method and let us know how it goes. Thanks!