Royce J.

My cello teacher is a working pro, and uses Helicore C and G with Larsen D and A.

I've used Magnacores on my cello and liked them very much. I tried Warchal Brilliant and they didn't suit my cello at all. They were extremely loud (which I didn't mind) but they had an extremely bright (brilliant?) tone that my teacher and I both really disliked. My teacher remarked that if one was playing with an orchestra and needed their sound to cut through, it might be OK, but I didn't want to listen to that every day. It seems to depend on the cello. My cello sounds good with Helicores, great with Magnacores, mediocre with Spirocores and awful with Warchal Brilliant. Who knows?

I installed Knilling Perfection Pegs on my cello. They're great. Previous friction pegs were well-fitted; they never stuck and hardly ever slipped, except right before my first recital (naturally) when all four strings went approx. a whole tone flat. My grip strength is fine, but I occasionally had a little challenge turning regular pegs. Maybe it's easier on violin than cello. I like being able to use a tailpiece with no tuners.

Victim of breast cancer at 36. Condolences to her family and friends. https://www.thestrad.com/news/anna-karkowska-who-ruffled-the-violin-world-with-hyper-romantic-style-dies-at-36/7576.article

Before starting cello several years ago, I did a lot of research in the online cello community. Conventional wisdom is that a decent beginner cello costs about $1000, not including bow or case (which can get you to $2000 pretty quick). This assumes buying retail from a dealer that actually knows something about bowed strings. It's generally recommended that a beginner rent an instrument to start. As it appears to be much easier to buy a cello than to sell one, this seems pretty good advice.

Best advice is to ignore brands and try as many cellos in your price range as you can. If you're not confident in your ability to make the best evaluation of a cello, maybe you could enlist the help of your teacher or a more experienced cellist. Generally, one would buy an instrument first, then look for a bow that suits. Good luck!

Best wishes to you sir, for a speedy recovery.

This is why the immediate worldwide electronic broadcast of whatever pops into one's head is not a wise idea, in my opinion. Ms. Kim's snarky tweet was ill-advised, to say the least.

I wonder if he knew Charlotte Moorman.

We could start with Casals, Starker, Rostropovich and Greenhouse.

Black painted bassoons were fairly common once. Seems to have been the style of the time. Someone told me that the Philadelphia Orchestra, at one time, required all their bassoonists to play black Heckels. Nowadays I seldom see a black bassoon, except for plastic ones.

Actually, the true value of something is what someone is willing to pay you for it. It really has no connection with how much you paid.

Many violinists seem to believe that playing cello is a breeze. Cellists tend to disagree.

Try listing a handbag "labelled Louis Vuitton" and see how long it takes to hear from Ebay and LV legal.

The left hand mark appears to be "FXS"