Hi, This is my first post and i'm after some advice about a cello if anyone can help. I recently bought a new cello, however i don't think that the G and C strings are resonating correctly. They kind of both have almost a metallic twang/buzz, it's quite hard to describe but doesn't quite feel right. Does anybody have any suggestions? I have changed the strings but that hasn't really made much difference. It doesn't sound esp bad but just not quite right. The A and D are fine. I am willing to take to a repairer but i don't want to hear that nothing can be done! If anyone has experienced this then please let me know what you suggest.
Many thanks
Callie

Probably it will be something really simple - but it may need a repairer to work out what. Have you checked that the adjusters are not loose and that the tailgut is not dragging on the top of the cello, that the tailpin screw is tightened sufficiently? Is any part of the string end in the pegbox (the bit that pokes out through the hole) catching against anything?

If it's none of those things, and if it has a very low bridge, then it is just possible, I should think, that you have an uneven fingerboard, but usually problems with the fingerboard or nut show up as a buzz on the A string because the gap between the fingerboard and the string is smallest there.

Just one thought to consider if you are a beginner and if the cello arrived bridge down - you have got it the right way round, have you? Because if it's the wrong way round then I would imagine you could get the typical A string buzz happening on the C string instead.

Liz

Thanks, i'll check those things. If it is a problem with the finger board, that sounds like quite a big job? Would it be very expensive do you know, to get it altered? Hopefully it might be something else.

It could be a matter of "shooting the fingerboard" which basically means planing it - perhaps £100 - £150. But i suspect it's a lot simpler because, as I said, fingerboard problems would usually show up on the A string side.

Where are you, and where did you get the cello and how long ago?

Liz

Astrea strings always have this effect on my cello! or it may even be a loose fine tuner (always happens) or even the little bits of plastic tube around the string you sometimes get on them make it buzz sometimes (they are there for when you fit them on that you put tem on the bridge so the strings don't bury themselves too much into the bridge )

that's all I can think of, hope it's helped