twcellist

Anybody have any thoughts on the most desired Italian cello makers from mid to late 20th century? I did some light research and names like Otello Bignami, Gaetano Gadda, Renato Scrollavezza, etc. I'm curious mainly because it generation before them (Poggi, Pedrazinni, Garimberti, Fiorini, just to name a few) their instruments are already becoming unattainable (i.e. expensive) so I'm looking at the this generation.

I posted this in Pegbox, but I figure this is maybe more applicable here. Anybody have experience playing with Yumba Rosin? Anybody feedback from cellist would be most appreciated. https://yumba.com.ar/en/

There is a Victor Fetique cello bow up for auction. Any thoughts?

Does anybody have experience with this rosin (in particular with cello?) Is it a good rosin for gut strings?

Also wanted to add that these pegs are going on a 5 string cello. I've been advised that the peg head needs to be smaller than a standard cello due to space/room concerns between the pegs. I need something around 30mm to 33mm.

Thanks. I should have been more specific. I really only need the head because I’m going to send them off to Peghead where they are going to covert it to a geared peg.

Anybody have any recommendations as to where to get custom cello pegs? Ideally, A place that has a variety of styles and selections.

I'm looking at Damien's website for cello gut strings and I was wondering if anybody has any experience (i.e. playability and sound quality difference) with all the different type of gut strings he has. On his site he has gut, varnished gut, silver pl.gut, NiAg gut, and Sterling Silver/gut. Are there any combination or preferences that people prefer?

Thanks. I did contact Damien actually and he said his E string would "probably not" work on a full size cello. So yeah... it looks like if I want to go full size they'll have to be custom strings.

Thanks. I'm not expecting anything spectacular with a $400 cello. The only thing I want to explore and feel is how it physically feels to play 5 strings. Many people have tried to learn 5 strings and many have given up stating that they're just too used to 4 strings. I figure rather than plunge thousands of dollars into a quality 5 string and then only have it go to waste as a piece of furniture spending $400 to figure try things out isn't such a bad idea .

Thanks for your thoughts and perspective. To tell you the truth 1) I don't really know if I want to go all the way and get a 5 string cello and 2) I don't even know what type of 5 string cello I want (i.e. baroque setup, modern, or transitional and also the actual size.) The problem I'm facing is there are no 5 string cello readily available so there is no reference point (if you know what I mean.) I came across a very cheap 5 string cello on Amazon for only $400 and so I decided to buy it and at least dabble a little bit. Of course I'm not expecting anything wonderful from such a cheap instrument, but I mainly just want to see how it is to even play with 5 strings as I think this will help me answer a lot of questions. As for the E string I did some more research and asking around and it seems that a 7/8th's cello would be at the upper range of in terms of what most gut E stings can handle right now (it would be right around 67 cm vibrating length.) If you go any bigger in terms of cello size then the string would have to be custom made.

Does anybody have experience with a Gut E string for a full size cello? From what I seem to understand the traditional 5 string cello is a cello piccolo, which is anywhere from a 1/2 size to 3/4 size cello. As such the gut E strings available for cello are at a vibrating length of 64-67 cm. However, a full size cello vibrating length is 69 cm. I've asked around with regards to fitting a gut E string onto a full size cello and most people I have talked to have concerns about the strings snapping. So I wonder if anybody makes a gut E to handle a 69 cm vibrating length.

... Sigh... Yeah... as I'm quickly learning when it comes to old instruments it's a huge minefield of Italian fakes!

Woah... I've never seen anything like that done for the bridge. Nuts! Lol... So, this cello is being auction at Fountaine's Auction House and well obviously instruments is not their specialty.

Another smaller auction house selling what's advertised as mid-19th century Italian cello. They said there are no cracks on the sound post, top, or back, but the neck was broken and the cracks below the block were repaired. Also mentioned the oil based varnish congealed and stuck the case and that's why the back is in the condition it is. Any thoughts?