Buying your first cello.

My first advice is never buy a cello without first discussing it with your teacher. In fact, if possible have your teacher pick it out with you. (Also see my post on avoiding buying a CSO.) If you have never played cello before, consider renting instead. (See my post on renting vs. buying.)

Now take a deep breath and don't go into sticker shock. Stringed instruments are expensive. (Guess you should have gone for that cheap flute or trumpet!) Less so than they used to be, but a decent, playable instrument is going to cost. The various sizes have different costs associated with them so I am going to talk only about full size instruments in this post.

You have probably heard of the violins made by famous makers like Stradivarius that sell for millions of dollars. Well you don't need to start out with quite that expensive of an instrument. Phew.

So for a full size student level cello expect to plunk down $2000-$5000. That's just the cello. Oh they will throw in a cheap bow and a soft case for you but who wants to protect their investment with a soft case? (See my Bass Pictures under Events to see what happened to a bass of mine "protected" by a soft case.) And a cheap bow, oh dear! (Read about bows in my blog post on bows.)

Several factors go into what makes a good cello, and one of the most important, aside from who made it (which determines quality) is simply how old is it? Cellos generally take up to five years of playing to "open up," for the sound to really start to be sweet as the wood becomes used to being vibrated. OK, a bit of physics. The string vibrating is what makes the sound. So what is the body of the cello for? It is an amplifier. Simply put it makes the sound louder and the easier the body of the cello resonates in response to the vibration of the strings, the better sound--and louder, the cello will be. New stringed instruments will sound a little tight, meaning they don't resonate quite as well as they will after being played for a while. Unfortunately poorly made cellos also sound tight, forever.

Another quality to look for in an instrument is how easily it "speaks." Now really old instruments are temperamental, but for your first cello you don't want an instrument that is hard to play no matter how "famous" it is. By "speaks" I mean how quickly the string responds to the bow being drawn across it to generate a sound. Poorly made cellos will not speak very easily--i.e. it is harder to make the string vibrate. In contrast a better made instrument will speak easier.

And each cello has its own sound quality, is it bright or dark, loud and brash or soaring and mellow. Cheaper cellos tend to be similar in sound, that is they sound terrible. But as you start to play better instruments you will notice the different personalities.

So, the quality of construction, the person who made it (the luthier), and how old it is generally determines the value of a cello. Since this is your first cello you probably can either opt for a well made new cello or browse the classifieds in hopes of scoring a great used cello. Again ask your teacher for help.

Where to buy a cello?

First a word about luthiers. A luthier is one who either makes, repairs, or does both to stringed instruments. I have had both good and bad experiences with luthiers. Some are lazy and take shortcuts and you curse the day you met them. Others take the time to make sure everything is set up right. You will hear that word, setup, quite often with stringed instruments. "Oh this one sounds terrible because of its bad setup." And they are right. A bad setup can ruin a good cello. And a good setup can give new life to what was thought to be a not so good cello. Here are some luthiers I have worked with in SLC:

Day Violins has a small but excellent selection of student level cellos and I have had a good experience with them. Charles Liu also has a small selection with a wider price range. When you are ready to step up from a student level instrument, that is amateur to professional level cellos, buy from Peter Prier and Sons (although they usually have a few student level cellos available as well).

Checklist for Buying a Cello:

1. cello

2. bow (see blog post on bows)

3. hard case with name tag

4. rosin (see blog post on rosin)

5. soft cloth to wipe rosin off of strings

6. endpin stop

7. performance mute (see blog post on mutes)

8. practice mute (optional)

For sizing options for cellos for children, usually the store salesman can help you, or you can have your teacher help you.