I have been cellositting and playing my brother's cello for some years but this will have to be replaced soon as his son is growing fast and will soon be ready to take back what is rightfully his .

I have a significant birthday coming soon and will probably start dropping hints to Mr Minstrel that a cello would be a welcome present, however budget will be a big issue for us. I want something as playable as possible for as little as possible which I anticipate using mainly for informal chamber music with musician friends and the occasional pit or orchestral gig. I already have a Yitamusic viola which is outstanding value for money and would probably try to get something along similar lines for the cello.

I don't know where to start, I've never bought a cello before!
Are the Yita cellos any good?
What do other people have/play/recommend?

I've probably got about 6 months to find something, nephew's growth spurts permitting!

HELP!!!

I don't know about their cellos, but I've just got a Yita violin which I'm really pleased with.

What are the Gliga cellos like?

I don't know abou Yita, but I have a Primavera (sp?) and I have never had any problems with it, it's a great cello and I will be doing my grade 8 on it.

I would avoid their cellos, to be honest. I've seen around 5 M20 cello's, only one of which was any good after it had had extensive set up work on it - it more than trebled the price to put it right and it ended up sounding only as good as any other cello in that price range.

Would a gliga be an option? Or even a stentor conservatoire with a bit of set up work? Or maybe he could pay for a year's rental on a nice cello for you?

That's interesting, Allan, I have been wondering about the ita cellos and had already been thinking that if they were anything like as good as the violins and violas someone here would have posted a good experience with them by now.

Renting a nice cello for a year would be great...... but what then? If it's that good I would want to keep it and, quite frankly, would not be able to afford to long term, essentially as a 'hobby' instrument. It would, however, be fantastic to track down something great and affordable as a memorable birthday prezzie.

Any more ideas, anyone?

If it's not an indiscrete question, what's the maximum price range?

No worries.... not enough ! Mr M (who is NOT a musician) would probably hope to get away with no more than £500! Realistically, another two or three hundred might be possible, but no more. Hence my problem.

I've been very spoilt having my brother's cello to play around with (which IS nice - (un)fortunately ! ) so finding something that I actually want to play in that price bracket is going to be a challenge. I'm sure that somewhere there must be a value-for-money playable equivalent to what Yita do with violins and violas, just that it is probably going to be a matter of time and luck before I find it. My own musical instrument coffers are currently empty after upgrading the viola bow a couple of months ago. It may just be that I have to stop feeding the kids save up a few extra pit fees to get something reasonable.

Good suggestions welcome!

Well, a friend of mine is playing on an Antoni cello which he paid around 300 UK for I think, he had significant set up work done (fingerboard shooting, pegs reworking, new bridge and soundpost) so that probably cost another 300, but the resultant cello sounds very rich and impressive - people always think it cost way more than it actually did. I played on it for a while and found it every bit as good as my own cello, which cost me a lot more.

I'm not a cellist so i have like no knowledge in this! but what about a stentor conservatoire? http://www.normans.co.uk/p-460-stentor-con...-full-size.aspx it's in your price rangeish anddd, well i dunno what the cellos are like obviously but i've tried the stentor conservatoire violins and violas and they've been nice. I was playing my friend's stentor conservatoire viola and had no idea it was a stentor and was so shocked when i found out it was nicee

OOOhh What a treat. 'Cello shopping. Where do you start? At all the stringed instrument shops nearby. All of those, that is, that have a room for trying out their stock.You won't have to make a decision immediately. Just tell the luthier that you are in the market for a 'cello in such and such a price range, and then let them be brought forth ! Give all the cellos a try. You should be able to go back as often as you need to get a feel for things. Remember though that you'll need a bow too. There is another danger to bear in mind....you'll invariably prefer the one just slightly more expensive than the top end of your budget

Take your time. Don't rush into things.

Have fun.

What is your brother's cello?

Liz

My luthier knows - and sympathises with my problem. The cello has been there for the occasional visit including strings and setup.

It is an unlabelled, probably English cello, which we believe is probably about a hundred years old. It needed a LOT of work when my parents bought it - it is the classic example of a heavily restored instrument which, as a result, plays much better than it is worth, and it is insured for well in excess of my budget as it is.

Why, oh why, are cellos so expensive? Even a decent set of strings would cost more than I paid for my (Yita) viola???!!!??

Cellos are expensive but it is worth going to the limits of what you can afford, although expensive is not always better. I have played a couple of cellos in my time and actually one of the best was a yamaha that was a well-meant birthday present but bought for me without my trying it out first from Chappells. I was very wary but it served me very well and my teacher thought it was so good that she recommends it as the middle level instrument to pupils. I don't have it any more but know it cost about £750-800 and think it did punch above its weight. I now have an instrument that comes from a tiny luthier in Kensington - it was more than I think you'd want to pay but he offers all sorts of cellos and is very helpful. PM me if you'd like more information about him.

At this price point the options are basically Chinese, perhaps a lowest level Czech (Strunal), Lowest level Gliga or perhaps Zeller, or a lucky find on a used instrument.

But I guess you had already worked that out.

I don't know if I could cope with having a lot of money but it would be fun to find out!

Liz

If, as it seems at the moment, the chinese cellos are not a good bet it looks as if it is going to have to be the 'lucky find used insrument' option. Although I am really an upper strings specialist the heart of the problem is that I've been very spoilt in being able to use my brother's lovely instrument for so long. I am fortunate that I already have good luthier contacts here (I am too far from London to make that an option, but thanks MissSooky) so my ear is to the ground.......

Thanks everyone for your advice so far, please keep me posted if you have more thoughts.

(Can you get growth suppressant for nephews?!)

I don't understand your reference to Chinese cellos not being a 'good bet' (too expensive or not good enough?). If you think the latter you might be mistaken. I bought my daughter a 3/4 size 9 months ago from a good UK luthier who had set it up and paid a total of less than £800 (I forget whether I paid £700 or £750) including a (cheapo) case. It sounds lovely. I already had a good bow (paid over £200 for this). If you get the instrument set up by a UK luthier my understanding is that Chinese cellos are better than czech ones, certainly most people that I know who have bought an instrument recently (assuming that they weren't in the market for a good old one) bought Chinese. You can of course pay considerably more than £800 - certainly £2-3000 for a full size - but my budget was a £1000, I took the advice of various who all agreed that the one I bought was the best.

I hope you don't mind me asking, what have you got?

From my (admittedly limited) experience of cellos from those two countries, I would agree. I don't think you will find the set up generally worse on Chinese than Czech ones either. Personally my preference is for Romanian but that will not surprise anyone

Liz

IMHO the difference in quality between Czech and Chinese instruments isn't so cut and dried. The Czech ones were at one time very much better than the Chinese made cellos. In recent times the Chinese ones have improved dramatically. (In fact I think Stentor moved their factory out there). However there are still some really dreadful instruments coming out of the country, which although might look good and appear to be properly set up, often need a considerable amount of work doing to them before they can produce anything like a half decent sound. Often the amount of work needing to be done just isn't worth the money. I would expect a specialist shop/luthier dealing in factory instruments to import and sell the better ones. I would trust less those that come from a general music store. The last factory instrument I ever had was a Czech one dating from the 80s which was really excellent and cost me about £600 at the time. The proof however is always in the playing; not in the name or nationality. It can be quite a minefield.

Good luck with your search. Just play everything that comes your way.

Or you could try sabotage - buy the nephew a bass guitar, tell him the cello isn't cool, run away very fast....!