Cello String Height

[Julian Gleason]

On 4/14/2021 at 3:09 PM, Drzislav said:

No a montagnana cello A string should be between 6.5mm-7.5mm. It is normally much higher in comparison to Stradivari or Guarneri cellos where they fall as low as 4.5mm- 6mm. If you drop the montagnana A string too low the vibration will touch the finger board causing buzzing.

Not necessarily. If your Montagnana has a low-tension A string (Permanant Solo 17.2kg), then yes it needs to be about 6mm. But if you're using a Magnacore Strong A (about 19kg) then there's no way your heights would work...at least not in thumb position! Also, if your string length is 695mm, then the sting does not need to be so high. If your string length is 685mm then it does need to be high. All of these variances are typical for the cello and have a huge effect on it's playability. Then there's the wolf note. The Montagnana usually does not struggle with wolves. But, if the string is too high, pressing the F down on the G-string is the deepest section and will create extra tension on that note. Maybe it helps, maybe it makes it worse. From personal experience, closer to the FB creates easier response, further away makes it sluggish. The list goes on.

[LittleHarryBrother]

On 5/15/2016 at 12:26 PM, ~ Ben Conover said:

Daniil Shafran was another kettle of fish but he knew what he wanted. 

Do you know exactly what Shafran preferred? High or low string action?