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First I want to preface this post by saying I am a working professional cellist playing in a midsize professional orchestra and I am happy with the sound of my instrument. I have no intention of selling it, but I have a serious conundrum which involves my relationship with the maker of the instrument. I took possession of this cello which I commissioned in 2020 from a popular modern maker of cellos. When I picked up the cello in late 2021, the sound was excellent and the cello at first look seemed well set up. However, there were a couple of odd things I noticed within the first few days/weeks. -The endpin supplied was 8mm and didn't fit in the cone which was 10mm (quickly remedied by communicating with the maker) -The action was very low on the A-string side and the stamp on the bridge with the makers name was pretty off center. Kind of weird, but again, the sound was to my liking and I let it go -The tuning pegs didn't match. There was one peg with a mother of pearl inlay and the others just of plain ebony. Just an aesthetic thing, but still rather annoying -There was a two inch crack in the ribs that was repaired, but which I was not told about ahead of time. I discovered it weeks later. I did talk to the maker about this and my luthier assured me the repair is very solid, but I didn't like that the brand new instrument I purchased for 40k came with a crack in it. It is particularly obvious under the stage lights. -The scroll was/is not in line with the rest of the cello. If you look down the fingerboard the scroll is pointing a bit more toward the C string. -The back seam is not lined up with the button -Endpin cone was carved to fit the hole and didn't really fit well -The neck was already wedged when I received it, which leads me to my next issue...... The projection of this cello is low. by about 5mm. I know that over time necks move and it's not uncommon to need to do a neck reset on a cello. I contacted the maker and they provided me with the specs that they shoot for with neck projection. Based on the measurements provided and the original bridge, the cello was never at the correct projection. It has always been about 5-7mm low. In fact the neck has not moved more than .5mm, seemingly, which is amazing. Maybe there's some other way that the bridge and the neck could have fallen? The top is stable according to my luthier, so that seems unlikely. Now, since the neck was already wedged once it cannot have a NY reset done and so I'm looking at a rather expensive neck reset only two and a half years after taking possession of the cello. On top of this, the local luthier I am working with on this says the neck is not only twisted, but canted slightly to the C-string side. They are unsure about the stability of the neck wood, which means that I might be looking at a new neck for this cello. They want to remove the fingerboard and see what the neck does. I have been telling myself that the setting of the neck was done intentionally to allow for the extra tension of the A-string to pull the neck in line and straighten out the scroll. This has in fact happened very slightly. I don't know if this is something makers do, but based on the list above, it seems like the intentionality of everything is always a question for me. Based on the lack of attention to detail that I have listed above, a neck reset is not something I want the maker to do. I don't expect they have any interest in this anyway as I have emailed them about it and not heard back. As I said, I have no intention of trying to sell this cello or give it back to the maker, but I'm feeling like I did not get what I paid for in the craftsmanship department and that is frustrating. Is it possible that the maker had an apprentice finish this instrument and just didn't bother to check the work? I don't want to name the maker, but they are in their later years and quite experienced at making cellos. I don't know why this cello sounds so good since it seems to be kind of haphazardly constructed. I have put a lot of money into new pegs/bridge/post/tailpiece/endpin rebushing and new cone and was fine to do that since those are either aesthetic issues or just not worth trying to get the maker to do. (they live several states away) Hearing that the neck was never in the right place and knowing that it was wedged when I got it has made me quite frustrated and annoyed, but I love my cello and I don't want to hurt my relationship with my instrument by damaging my relationship with the maker. What should I expect from the maker in this situation? Please feel free to comment on anything that I may be missing or that I need to consider. I'm looking for a makers perspective on how to proceed
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Pictures from Metzler's American Makers Exhbition (and sale), 2019. All played with absolutely stunning precision (35 times! 36 if you count him playing on his Strad at the end) the same 2 passages by Cho-Liang Lin. I have the pictures below, in order; a video will be posted on violinist.com, and a live stream may be viewable from Metzler's facebook page. I will post video if I have time, but as I found: impossible to both listen and record properly at the same time. I was mostly interested in listening. Absolute Shout-out to the Metzler's staff: very professional, and attentive. We start with Luis Amorim, Brazil, and Dorian Barnes. Barnes' fiddle has an absolutely stunning varnish, very nicely colored. I think he is using Joe's varnish. Well done! P.S. I posted them, and they uploaded, in order, but Barnes, #2, is first in the post, for some strange reason. I will post individually, because of this. Apologies for the uneven lighting. I had only a few minutes before the hordes descended, and then it was every violinist to himself. People will not get out of the way for a Maestronet photog!
