Erhu, spike tube fiddle, and bow. A bowed stringed instrument composed of a cylindrical wooden body with a head of snake-skin secured by a black fabric binding. The neck a bamboo stick carrying two pegs of elongated pear shape, fluted, with two strings attached. The strings attached to the further end of the stick. Three lapped bindings, one on each side of and one between the pegs. The strings held by a hook and loop on the neck. With bow formed of a bent stick and haired with black horse-hair carried through the stick and knotted. Some untidy glue. Generally complete and sound. Attached label bears numbers 13679 and 1000, with some indecipherable characters
The silk strings of the jinghu are usually tuned in fifths. Rather than altering pitch by pressing the strings against a fingerboard, the jinghu is played by holding the fingers against the string. It is held upright with the resonator placed on the left thigh, while the bow is held in an underhand position. The use of python skin for the sound table is now restricted to farmed pythons rather than endangered wild pythons.
