Cecilio CECO-4BK Ebony Electric Silent Metallic Black Cello in Style 4, Size 4/4 (Full Size)

I live in an apartment and got this piece to aid in practicing. I am an experienced cellist. I highly recommend this as a fabulous addition to your instrument collection. Here are some things I recommend to any buyers... first off, don't expect to play the same day it arrives. Be patient and your instrument will reward you. 1. Have someone handy carefully oil and maneuver the fine tuners with the strings off. 2. re-string the instrument. Mine came with the wrong strings on the corresponding pegs. Obviously it wasn't meant for ready play right out of the box. This is a manufactured item but you need to treat it like a crafted item to get the most out of it. I allowed mine to rest for almost two days, slowly tightening/tuning the strings. I debated purchasing new strings but I'm glad I didn't. See my explanation below. **Putting the bridge up was no problem. 3. oil and tighten all the movable parts (support pull outs). Eventually you will want to re-do the screws and washers. This is definitely the part of the instrument that will wear out over time and excessive use. Keep a little screwdriver in the case as they do need tightening from time to time. 4. ROSIN that bow! And use a GOOD rosin. It doesn't seem to matter much that the strings and bow hair are cheap, but decent rosin makes a huge difference. If you spend less than $10 online for your rosin you probably are not spending enough. It will be closer to $20 retail. I recommend JADE. And drown your bow in it. The test, run your nail across the base of the strings (by the frog) after applying rosin. You should see a sizeable white cloud float off your bow. Remember not to touch the hair of your bow or the playable area of your strings. The oil from your hands will deteriorate both over time. Use a soft dry cloth to remove rosin build up from strings between practice sessions. 5. Invest in headphones. Lets face it, you saved money by going with the Cecilio versus Yamaha models. You can afford to put a little extra into some phones. I spent as much on phones and a small amp as I did on my electric cello. What a joy to listen to though, it's worth making it happen. My experience is that the strings and bow don't have a huge impact on the sound as they would on an acoustic cello. That is actually great news. You get a lot more sound quality and freedom from settings on your amp. Additionally, bow pressure & technique is also not as important. Another nice benefit. The tonality is consistent all the way up the neck. Not always so and not always easy on an acoustic. I feel this is a GREAT option for an intermediate player for this reason. Or someone who wants to play and doesn't have the luxury of honing their skill with hours of practice. The electric is VERY forgiving. :) ** Not a great practice option for someone looking to improve on technique as it really will not have the same requirements. You will think you're much improved... and then go back to your acoustic and be disappointed. I used the electric in the studio recently for some scratch tracks and it was perfect! We did use a much more quality cord for recording and it extended further out the back due to the adapter. During that session I damaged the box on the back. (stepped on a cord and bent the inside... be careful you don't do the same when using adapters) I called cecilio and I was able to get a replacement box for only $25. I'm not sure how difficult it was to install as my husband is quite handy. I believe he had to solder in order to install the replacement. All in all, I'm very please with this item and because it's my secondary, very glad I chose it over higher priced cellos. It is definitely sufficient. I've used mine for practice, performance through a PA system, and in the studio.

As a former violist from childhood, I always wanted to pivot to cello but it wasn't considered cost efficient... but I did yearn. After 15 years, I finally am settled as a person with time on my hands and am re-discovering latent passions... Well, Cecilio was the way to go for that one. I remember it being "student quality", but beautiful enough tone in the right hands and sufficient for the price. So cello it was. I was specifically looking for something compact but still did the job, and I liked the design of this one. It came simple. This can be... satisfying or unpleasant depending on your experience. Those unfamiliar with how to string up a cello or any of the other set up and maintenance of a cello will probably be baffled, as there are zero instructions. This was not a problem for me, but this is what I suggest to do and took me about 15 minutes in total: - take note of the lack of bridge, find in the back zipper of case - take note of grooves on top of fingerboard and bridge meant for strings - hold on top of the strings between your fingers like you're Wolverine, place the bridge under the strings with your other hand and gently rotate to prop the bridge up under the strings (there is a little rectangle you can put the bridge base in... make sure the Cecilio logo faces the ground!) - as you gently lift the bridge, make sure to use your eyes and swap between view of the top of the finger board and the bridge, ensuring the strings are staying on the grooves at the top of the finger board... you're making sure the strings don't fall off and under the bridge or fingerboard - if and when the bridge is perpendicular to to the cello and the strings aren't tight enough to hold it in places, gentle wrench the pegs to tighten on top (some of them may he "falling out", just wrench them in deeper as you tighten) - once the bridge is soundly perpendicular with the cello and the strings are tight enough to secure, download a tuning app - there should be a free cello tuning app on the Google Play store that works just great! bless the digital age! - tune large amounts with the pegs, and time smaller amounts with the fine tuners located lower on the cello - locate the bow of the cello, and tighten the end knob (metal with a black stripe around it) - a trick to tighten the bow to the right amount (imo) is if you open your mouth wide like for the dentist, take your finger and try to stretch the corner of your mouth... the corner of your mouth has the exact same tightness as bowstrings 🤣 the horsehair should be able to still somewhat comfortably come to the wood of the bow, any tighter and it snaps hairs! - locate the rosen and give it a VERY good and gentle scrubbing up and down the entire length of the bow... since it is fresh, it takes awhile - install battery in cello - open up all the lil extendable body things (don't forget the bottom one you adjust to your height sitting in a chair) So anyways, after I did all this in about 15 minutes, I gave it my best Jingle Bells... obviously the acoustic tone of this instrument is nothing hearty like a real full bodied instrument, but I can say it does the job for practice in an apartment. I successfully played Jingle Bells!! 🤣 The headset is absolutely crap, they're honestly nonsense for noise cancellation and the cello itself is loud enough to practice outright in a quiet room. All in all, I am very pleased I now have a cello. It feels good so far in my hands, it definitely is my first electric instrument and a student quality one, so I give it grace for the plastic-y vibe it has. It has good heft, could probably stop a home intruder with one good whack. It has spare strings, it was easy set up, comes with a carrying case and rosen... Very groovy. 😎

Tuning pegs backwards, bow is a viola bow, not a cello bow; doesn't have a proper quarter inch input for a normal cable. Initial strings very poor quality.