Excellent for the price, January 13, 2012

Let me start off by saying that I have absolutely no experience playing cello, so I don’t have a lot of knowledge of the instrument to compare it to.

PROS:

That being said, I think this is an amazing cello for the price. Considering that most “beginner” cellos in a music store start out around ,000, finding a cello that sounds good at all for 0 is great. It did make a weird squeaky sound when I played the G string while holding down on the fret, but I started making sure I kept the rosin residue wiped off the string, switched to Jade L’Opera JADE Rosin for Violin, Viola, and Cello rather than the rosin that came with it, and started using the bow like I was taught in Cello Playing for Music Lovers: A Self-Teaching Method, and it disappeared.

I believe a good set of strings would also make a huge difference in the sound (I know they do on my bass guitar; the difference between cheap strings and a good set is almost incomparable), but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I did over tune the A string (thinnest) when I was first getting it in tune, and it broke, so it’s a good thing they’ve included an extra set (in case you missed it like I did, the cello comes with a set of strings on it, and they give you an EXTRA set).

I was a bit worried about the shipping when I ordered, since musical instruments are so delicate. When the box arrived, it had numerous gouges in it, so I was even more nervous (the gouges weren’t the seller’s fault, of course). However, it was packaged well enough that the cello itself was completely fine.

CONS:

They give you absolutely no instructions of any kind how to set this thing up. If I didn’t already have a basic knowledge due to owning a violin, it would have been even harder; as it was, I simply googled “how to set up a new cello” and found numerous helpful pages. The cello comes with the bridge uninstalled, the strings completely loose, and no rosin whatsoever on the bow. It’s really not too hard to set up, there are just a couple things you have to be aware of, which I’ll mention at the end.

Keep in mind that this is, after all, only a 0 cello, so don’t expect miracles. Yes, it’s a fantastic instrument for the price, but they can only do so much with a 0 price. If you think you’re (or your child) are going to seriously get into playing the cello, I would recommend renting one from a music store, or buying a more expensive one. It can be frustrating to learn on a cheap instrument, since if it doesn’t sound good you can’t be sure if it’s just you or your instrument. I personally only bought this to mess around on and because I want to have a lot of musical instruments around as my kids are growing up so they can pick one.

HOW TO SET YOUR INSTRUMENT UP:

When you first get it, take EVERYTHING out of the box and lay it in front of you. Put the box somewhere else so you have plenty of room to work without banging your cello into the box. Take the styrofoam out from under the neck and untie the strings.

Step one is to put rosin on the bow. Tighten the nut at the end of the bow (righty tighty) so that the hair of the bow is tight, but not too tight. The hairs shouldn’t be able to touch the back of the bow when you apply light pressure, but the bow should still have a bend in the wood part. Rough up the rosin with some sandpaper so it will stick to the bow, then rub it along the bow a LOT. It will take quite a while to get enough rosin on it, but this is a key step. You’ll know you have enough when you flick your thumbnail along the underside of the hair and a small cloud of rosin puffs out. It took about 20 minutes for me to get enough on.

Your second step will be to set up the bridge. Notice that one side of the bridge is higher than the other; this side will go under the thicker string, while the lower will go under the thinner. The bridge should be placed between the notches in the middle of the “f holes” (the holes in either side that look like an italic “f.” Slide it under the strings while it’s laid down, then slowly stand it up while making sure the strings are in the correct notches on the bridge.

Step three is to tune your cello. I used an app I bought on my iPhone, you can use whatever tuner you want. Slowly tighten all the strings; don’t try to completely tune one, then the next one, etc. Tighten the first one a bit, then move to the next one, then when you reach the last one go back to the first and tighten that one some more; rinse and repeat until they are in tune.

That’s about it!! That’s a…

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decent quality, you get what you pay for, February 16, 2012

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Completely satisfied customer, January 30, 2011

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