cellopera

The best cello set on the market at this point is Thomastik Rondo. I have it on both my cellos, an old French and a modern Italian. Those strings are perfectly balanced, have great projection and at the same time feel very comfortable under the hands. My problem with Larsen strings, having playing them over the years, is the lifespan. They loose the resonance and response after only one month of playing. I thought it was impossible to achieve a great sound without having to combine strings, because cellists, unlike violinists, have always combined different brands for the upper and lower strings (eg. Larsen A/D and Spirocores G/C). Well, this problem was finally addressed by Thomastik with the new Rondos. Try them!

Which brand of vaporizer(s) are you using at the moment?

Go get help before it’s too late... seriously!

You are being rude for no reason and should keep your nasty comments for yourself. Rick is just asking some simple questions, so let him be.

For cellists, the Larsen string lines are big disappointment. For the price they are asking, the A and D are basically useless after a month of playing...

Regarding the Rondo strings for Cello, I must say they are the best strings that I have encountered so far. They are really well balanced, and this is a tough quality to achieve, especially when most cellists combine strings all the time. Back in May I put on the first complete set, and at the end of October renewed a fresh pair of A and D strings. The “old” A and D are currently on my other Cello and still sound amazing! They definitely achieved a new standard for Cello strings.

Any opinions on those Cellos? 1: https://www.ebay.de/itm/tolles-antikes-Cello-mit-Bogen-aus-Nachlass/184474514432?hash=item2af389b400:g:W~cAAOSw7wdfec6y 2: https://www.ebay.de/itm/tolles-antikes-Meister-Cello-C-Carletti-Brandstempel-4-4-aus-Nachlass/184474482141?hash=item2af38935dd:g:OyEAAOSw0S1fecmT

Thanks for your input!

They don’t have better quality photos than this, unfortunately. Is it at least interesting looking? I am considering buying it (blindly) just from the photos.

Does this Cello look French to you? Or rather German?

Conclusion? Don’t get a better instrument, get a better violinist!

This is absolutely outrageous!

Are you serious? It is incredibly uncommon to pay up to $1200 for a carbon Tailpiece. There are other companies that produce quality carbon Tailpieces for less than a fifth of Ken’s price. Here is an example: https://www.concarbo.com

The shop that you visited near Marienplatz is owned by Peter Benedek. He is a well respected luthier in München. https://benedek.de/?lang=en

True, I thought he was asking about Auguste Sébastien Philippe Bernardel, I didn’t even take a look at the label. All clear!

I have seen and tried four different Bernardels in the past two years and from that experience, this looks nothing like those instruments. He uses dark red varnish on 90% of his cellos. Go check Bernardel on the Cozio Archive https://tarisio.com/cozio-archive/browse-the-archive/makers/maker/?Maker_ID=951&filter_type=4

I was not aware of that, just presumed that those sudden changes in moisture might affect the instrument more rapidly.

Good to know, I’ll stop using them. I was not aware of that, just presumed that those sudden changes in moisture might affect the instrument more rapidly.

Interesting information, a crack would definitely be way worse. The opened seams are on the back—upper left rib and lower right rib.

Thanks for the response. Luckily, I usually squeeze and dry the dampits so they don’t drip but I agree that they could be easily misused. Referring to Nathan’s observation, I always had my main instrument in a room near the rehearsal hall, precisely for being able to avoid sudden temperature changes, so that was never a problem. The Cello was most of the time in its case, safest environment. That is why humidifiers changed the game for me, because without them, I would open the case and my hygrometer would read below 30% humidity. Even so, open seams still happened.

After reading about humidity on Mr. Burgess’ website a few years ago, I have become very careful in managing my instruments. Bought a room humidifier, a stretto case humidifier (comboed with Dampits) and case/room hygrometers. I started to notice the low humidity levels in rehearsal and concert halls, as low as 21% this past winter. Even though I was very careful, my Cello has opened seams for the second time this year (January/May). Fortunately, the two places that became unglued this time are not as bad, approx. 5 cm in length. Are these sudden differences in humidity levels going to affect a Cello in the long term? When I open the case the hygrometer usually reads between 42-55% and by the time I finish the rehearsal it reads under 30%.

Incredible information. I have done a lot of experiments on my instrument the past few years but never something like this. Thank you for letting me know, I will definitely investigate! The latest successful experiment (done by a luthier) was shaving wood from the back of my Bois d‘Harmonie Tailpiece to reduce its weight. I was reluctant to try it but the result was unexpected. It opened up the higher register and improved the overall response.