Cellos

[leafspring]

My sister loved playing cello but when we moved onto a boat the humidity wasn't good for it, so it had to go...

Now (10 years later) she has her own flat, I'm thinking of buying her a new cello for her birthday in March as a surprise. She still mentions how much she misses playing

But I know feck all about them...

Needs to be a high quality good sounding instrument suitable for an advanced amateur who is a little out of practice but not a pro/concert instrument

Any recommended manufacturer (ie not mass produced crap)

Budget of around £700-800

[Elderly]

leafspring said:

I'm thinking of buying her a new cello for her birthday in March as a surprise.


Needs to be a high quality good sounding instrument

(ie not mass produced crap)

Budget of around £700-800

Nice thought but .........

A cello is something very personal and really the person who is to play it
should be the person to choose it.

And I'm afraid that your budget is not going to buy something that is a
"a high quality good sounding instrument".

My suggestion would be to tell her what you want to do and say that
she should choose one she really likes and you will contribute £xxx
towards it.

Don't disregard mass produced. The chances are that a carefully chosen mass produced instrument which is then individually well set up by a luthier would give the required result for a reasonable spend.

And then there's choosing a bow ......... that's even more personal;
I know a pro who uses a £150 Chinese bow with his seven figure sum Italian cello!

[Ilikebeaver]

I grew up playing the cello and gave it up about 15 years ago. I really wanted to get back into it this year but didn't have the budget available for anything half decent.

For your budget I would have loved an Andreas Zeller Cello. (I had one growing up which I used in Orchestras)

They sound fantastically mellow and are very well made using genuine ebony rather than 'ebonised' hardwood.

Here is a link: http://www.bonnersmusic.co.uk/andreas-zeller-1360a...

Even better would be to find one second hand, as all cellos seem to get better with age and the more they are played.