LANDTOM Musical Chinese Erhu 2 Stringed Chinese Rosewood Violin Fiddle Instrument Chinese 2 Stringed Instrument with Free Accessories for Beginner Entry Level (A)

They also sell a more expensive Erhu in case you want something more higher end.But, with that said, this was a surprisingly beautiful instrument on multiple counts and a wonderful place for anyone to begin their Erhu journey.The Build:The build itself is solidly and beautiful built with rosewood. There are no blemishes or jagged edges. The cuts are very even and balanced (no deformities). It uses actual snake skin (of which they have already gone through the proper customs processes before shipping to Amazon FBA). The wood finish is also very nice and smooth. Also, the tuning pegs are nice and snug. You can tune with them easily...in fact, I don't even use the fine tuners at all. They hold their place even with the most minute rotation. Outside of metal pegs at the base to hook the strings and the metal strings themselves, the instrument is completely "natural" with no mechanical/metal parts.Accessories:The company has been quite generous about their included accessories. They give you an additional set of strings, a multi-note pitch pipe for tuning purposes (which I prefer over electronic tuners anyway), rosin which seems to be just as good as the one I use for my viola, two bridges, two felt pads, a set of fine-tuners if you prefer to use those (as stated before, I personally do not since I like the tone better without it), and a Beijing-style bow (which is a lot easier to set up with the erhu than a Shanghai-style one). My bow came with a 2cm chip at one end of it, but nothing major and still totally sturdy to get the job done. Also, it obviously comes with a case. The case is good but basic. In terms of hardness, it's pretty much the tough hard foam lined with a kind of felt material incased in a nylon zip-up case. It's light, sturdy enough, and allows for fair protection of the instrument. I would still keep it at the top of my stack of instruments for gigs, though. It also has one small compartment to hold your accessories in.Tone Quality:As a beginner, yeah, you'll sound like a dying cat at first. But as I began to get more and more proficient with it (understanding the effects of various bow pressure, string placement, etc.), I've been getting very solid tones out of it. It sounds beautiful to me. It does have a brighter quality to it, though, than what I'm used to hearing with erhus, but that's not a bad thing actually.Environment factors:One thing I've come to learn in purchasing ethnic instruments (both online and while in the native country of the respective instrument) is that my home environment can be a factor in harming an instrument. I've actually had another instrument split because of a drastic difference from whence it came from. But this erhu has not shown any wear and tear at all. Where I'm from, we have temperatures that can drop to the 70's and then suddenly become really warm. We also have dry weather here...and on top of that, the occasional need for a heater. This instrument has withstood it all.All in All:This is a wonderful place to begin your music journey in traditional Chinese instruments. It has a good build, generous amount of accessories, and a nice tone (once you become fairly proficient). You know how if a company does a haphazard job on an instrument, that can discourage you to keep at it? Well, this is an instrument that actually encourages me to play it and practice because of how well it's built.My only one quip is the lack of beginner reading material. But there is a book you can get (in English) on amazon, and several helpful online resources and teachers.

I'm blown away at the quality of this Erhu as well as the fantastic protective case that came with it. It's hand made, with free shipping - how are they making any money from this? I considered ordering an Erhu from a well known seller (Eight Tones) but the shipping alone was as much as this one; and the truth is I'm a beginner that wouldn't appreciate the finer details gone into the expensive instruments just yet. I researched a lot before choosing this Erhu based on many criteria, but the overall bang for the buck was just right. After just one week I'm already playing music that gets me excited. Oh, and the (real) Python skin is just beautiful. I'm sure in another 6 months during it's break-in period it will sound even better. I'm not sure why people are complaining about the bow, after I applied the rosin properly with the aid of some youtube videos I've got a beautiful sound that no longer sounds like a dying goose. My purchase also included an English Lesson book and CD that looks to be an excellent resource during my musical journey. Please do yourself a favor and pick up this inexpensive instrument that NEEDS to be apart of western music! I LOVE IT!UPDATE 3/16/23: The fine tuners work great! Mine didn't work out of the box because they screwed them together in a non-working way so they wouldn't ship loose. You need to screw it together so the fine adjustment gear pushes the screw against the string (sharp or flat), and make sure you put the string inside the little screw slot (see photo). Now I'm tuning PERFECTLY using a Korg TM-60 Tuner.

The fiddle is a solid 7/10 for beginners. Obviously won’t be up to par with “fine” erhus, as this is a starter instrument, but it’s a lovely starter erhu at that. The wood and skin is beautiful. The skin has a nice shiny luster to each scale and looks hydrated, not dried out like in other starter grade erhus. The bow is much lower quality probably 4 or 5/10. I’d recommend buying a nice one separately, $20-40 will get you a nice one. Quite a few plastic parts on the bow. No plastic from what I see on the fiddle itself. The accessories are more of a “value add” than actually functional. The pitch pipe is wildly out of tune, unusable. The fine tuners are also low quality, very finicky and the strings pop off the screw regularly. Not recommended. I’d use spare qianjin (not included) if you have any and fine tune the traditional way. The pegs are good. They hold tune and I’ve had no problems. I’d definitely recommend this for a first time/want to try erhu players.