List Price: $899.99
Sale Price: $346.77
Today's Bonus: 61% Off
- Size 4/4 electric cello with hand-carved maple wood & mahogany metallic varnish in style 4 (full size)
- Ebony fingerboard, pegs and tailpiece with mother of pearl inlay and 4 detachable fine tuners
- Powered by a 9V Alkaline battery (included)
- Includes: well padded lightweight soft-case, bow, rosin, aux cable, & headphones
- 1 Year Warranty Against Manufacturer's Defects
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I ordered this product from Amazon, and it arrived very quickly. Packaging was sufficient to the need, though there were no instructions or parts-lists. This thing is easy enough to put together that it doesn't really matter.As far as the item itself, it is obvious that it's only a couple hundred bucks. The 'ebony' fingerboard is just black-painted wood, so be prepared to polish the heck out of it to get the worst off. My fingers, even after vigorous wiping and several days of use, still turn a little black by the end of a session. The strings are pathetically cheap, and the fine tuners just do not want to let go of the strings. I can thread the string through the gap, but popping it out through the space between the prongs is difficult, and you'll probably just damage the string. Just go ahead and order new strings and fine-tuners while you're buying this thing. The body also seems to be a little bit longer than my 4/4 acoustic, which makes finding a comfortable and correct position a bit of a challenge (for those of us of moderate stature), but it's not insurmountable. On the positive side, it seems very sturdily made. The crook between the neck and the 'body' is exactly in the shape and location needed so you can find fourth and higher positions. It's very easy to set up--just set the bridge in the slot and tighten the strings over it. The sound is quite metalic--as you might expect--but not too bad. Volume-wise, it is akin to a very heavily muted cello, and perfectly suitable to play and not aggravate the neighbors, even at forte. It is quite heavy, which is annoying in some ways, but it means I'm much more conscious of when I tighten my left hand and either squeeze the neck, or support it on my thumb. I'm sure it's not intentional, but it helps me keep an eye on those bad habits we all try to avoid.
I would have liked to have the arms on the thing on the opposite sides (so that the upper arm on the player's left, so you don't get into bad habits in the thumb postions), but I knew that going in. I would also have liked to have at least the option of using power from an outlet, but since I'm using this mostly for a) more convenient size for travel and b) quiet compared to an acoustic, I don't actually use the battery much. Or the 'phones. No idea what the battery-life is like on it, but you might want to make sure you have extras if you're going to use it a lot through an amp, or something.
Too bad the Yamahas are so expensive, but if you're looking for a basic, portable, electric cello on a budget, this one will do the job.It's a great set for a new player. Although the strings provided trouble for even an experienced player to tune and the small one broke when trying to fit it on the bridge for the first time while tuning. It's a great quality and I love how compact it is. The design turns heads.As far as the ordering process it arrived as promised, no damage, and was up and running in about 10 minutes.
Other customers indicated the strings should be changed, so I got those as well. Had a rough time changing the first one by threading it through the fine tuner, so for the other three i popped out the metallic ring of the string and threaded it the other way, then put the ring on again it was much easier.
I didn't expect it to be the best quality as it was very low cost. But it is sturdy and has the expected sound. The half moon bar on the top was a bit loose and eventually ended up dropping the screws. I just replaced those with slightly longer screws and a bit of glue and it is playable again.
I have a small amp that I use occasionally and so never use the headphones. I still prefer the acoustic that I have but, it is great to be able to practice without bothering everyone else.Biggest problem I had with this product was the sound from pick up. It is pretty week. Second issue was very hard to tune the Pegs. Fine tuners on bridge do not work well. Overall build quality is poor.
