Musima cello

[oldcellow]

Hi everyone...first post and what a great forum, so interesting.

I'm 62 and have been given a 3/4 German Musima Cello. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about it....Im a beginner and it was local to me and as a musician, piano, bass, drums it feels pretty nice. Strings may be a little high but nothing I cant fix. I'm just rather fascinated by it as it clearly has an olde cracked lacquer finish and not a plasticy type of coating often associated with modern cheap instruments.

Grateful

Edited January 10, 2023 by oldcellow

[jacobsaunders]

Musima – Wikipedia

[Ratcliffiddles]

25 years ago, I used to work in a shop that did a lot of rentals, and a proportion of the stock were Musima, mostly plywood, and yes, the varnish used to crack all over after a few years.

[Blank face]

From the Kauert book ""Vogtländisch-westböhmischer Geigenbau".

[Guido]

I know someone who worked there during this time. A worker's target was to make 10 white violins per week from per-milled parts. Someone else sprayed the varnish, and someone else did the set-ups. Guess that's the lass in the picture :-)

[oldcellow]

Very interesting everyone and thks for the replies.

I don't really know if its a good instrument or not..I've filed the nut slots to ease the string pressure and it appears to be ebony or a very hard blackwood....not bad for a cheap instrument, tho cant say it sounds terribly open ...C and G seem a bit muffled but D and A are very crisp. Ive got the strings nice and low now and it plays very easily...it'll do for now until I get better.