Cecilio 4/4 Full Size Cello Kit for Beginners, Spruce Top Acoustic Cello, Cello Kit with/Bow, Stand, Rosin, Bag, Stringed Music Instruments for School Orchestras, Performances, Black

I am a student. I didn't want to waste my money if I wasn't going to keep up with the cello, so I bought this one because of the price, and because it seemed to come with everything I wanted to just pick it up and play right away. I have had years now so I feel confident to tell you about my experience with this cello.I was a bit worried about such an item being shipped to me, but my shipping experience was a good one. Pros: Cheap, comes with most everything you may need to start playing, it comes strung. Sounds nice for a cheap cello, crazy I know, but if you cared enough to get new strings, I think this cello will have a really nice sound to it. Cons: You are going to have to get better rosin, just plan on the expense, trust me it won't even play until you do! Strings are crap, they just don't sound very nice, but that is really minor to me since I am trying to learn. This complaint is also really minor, but I use the hard cello case instead of the stand to store it to keep my cats from messing with it, and one of the handles on the side fell off within the first few weeks of having it. I wasn't even carrying it around, I was literally just using the case as storage. It doesn't come with a tuner, you may want to get one. IT WILL NOT STAY TUNED. I am not talking about between sessions either as that can be expected, the large tuning pegs at the top have to be slammed into the top so hard that it is nearly impossible to tune, and once you do finally have it tuned the pegs will loosen up nearly immediately while you practice. Just be forewarned, it is a major annoyance, one I am not sure how you would fix beyond replacing that entire top bit. This is my biggest complaint: I will already have to get a new bow soon, since the bow is already falling to pieces. I have not been hard on the poor thing, and treated it with the utmost care, but the strings are falling out at an alarming rate recently! :( Overall, I know there are a lot of complaints, but I just think you should come into this purchase eyes wide open. There ARE problems with the cello, BUT I am still happy about the purchase! I want to learn how to play before I really invest a lot of money into a fine instrument, and this cello is fulfilling the purpose I bought it for! I may be delusional about this thinking, but I feel like with some work to this instrument from someone who knew what they were doing, it could become a nice mid-ranged cello.

Im a self-taught adult beginner - I spent months scouring the internet for advice and recommendations regarding getting the best bang for my buck for a starter cello. This company kept popping up on every list I found for reccommended beginner cellos. I made sure to buy the version with real ebony fittings (versus the lower numbered models available), as that seemed to be a better investment and where I prioritized my spending for. So I took the dive and got it and I'm very impressed. First off - I was anxious due to other reviews and pictures of folks recieving their cellos scratched/dinged up. Mine was not - it came in pristine condition. Second - you're buying a bundle package and its not expensive. There's a reason for that 🤣 you cant expect top quality without spending top dollar on certain items....instruments are one of those items lol. The rosin is not good (my instrument produced a sound that was 10 times better just by buying a quality DARK rosin). The bow could stand with an upgrade, same with the strings. You'll also need to buy a cello stopper so your instrument isn't sliding around when trying to play it. And the instrument ARRIVES WITH THE BRIDGE DOWN - the company is very clear about this, so the reviews dinging it for arriving without the bridge up perplexed me. (There are YouTube videos that instruct you on how to install the bridge properly). I recently took the instrument to a luthier and got their input - I was pleased to hear that they found it to be exactly what I wanted; an instrument that will be enjoyable to learn on because it does sound nice and is pretty nicely constructed and will carry me into intermediate levels. At that point I'll invest more heavily in a better instrument if my passion continues. The manufacturing errors was the necks varnish was filed down some to fit the ebony fretboard 🤷 it took a professional to pount that out to me, so I'm not worried about it. Tweaks can be, should be, made to bring out the potential sound quality of the instrument (adjusting the bridge, knot, and string height for example). That said though, the cello stand is NICE, as is the hard carrying case and the bones of the instrument. Third - I UNDERSTAND that the options of renting from a string store would have been/would be a better deal than buying this instrument. You get a better quality instrument and the renting would/could be cheaper. But, for me, this was a more feasible option given my city doesnt have a store that rents out cellos (the closest one is over an hour away) and given the COVID situation, I had no idea when such stores would reopen or even exist when this passes. I'd recommend this purchase and I'm very pleased with it.

Let me start with this....DO YOUR HOMEWORK 1ST ! I am a beginning cello student with a former background as a classically trained flautist and am fairly comfortable with the idea...you get what you pay for.. I did not expect the cello to be of symphony caliber...what I did expect is that Amazon's advertising, would correctly and adequately represent the purchase. Upon receiving...advertised bow and stand were missing ( no biggie, call and get replacements ). The bridge is not attached (standard for shipping) you therefore must get a luthier or competent repair/set-up specialist to service instrument ( which I did ). I was told.. In order to make this a playable cello, I would need to: A) Have nut rescored and shaven B) Have new, higher ( unsupplied ) bridge replacement C) The fingerboard needed reshaping and he could not do because it was too thin and painted (not rosewood, as advertised) Reshaping was necessary to learn proper note placement, otherwise everything would be a 'fret' too sharp from straining to press down string......very sore. calloused fingers and NO joy in playing= instrument collecting dust in corner from unuse. Bowing would also be effected D) Have the body/tonal(treble)pin and bass pin repositioned. E) Advertised solid spruce top is nothing more than plywood with a spruce veneer...not much could be done about this and I was told it would severely effect sound. In all a 350$ job. Add this to the 234$..you've just spent, well you get the picture. As I see it I had 2 choices: A)Suck it up, spend the money and I would have had a still less than so-so acceptable cello that was cheaper than a quality entry level instrument. OR B)Spend the money on the quality entry level instrument that would well serve me into intermediate/advanced beginner levels, and still have a fine instrument to resell or pass down. ( Let me state that I am a beginning adult player) Amazon's misleading print about this instrument has cost me time, money, frustrations and delays...People, please keep ...this is mind ' YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR ' you will never find a new cello with rosewood/ebony fingerboards and tuners for less than 800-1000$. Unpainted, hardwood fingerboards are relatively necessary if you need to fine tune instrument ,from a bowing and action perspective (mentioned above). If you are an adult or child that really,really, really loves music, who believes they have the ability to learn and wants to put in the time practicing and not end up hating the instrument...do yourself the favor of doing your homework....Save and research. Thanks.

This was a good value instrument for the price. I have no idea how to play the cello and wanted to learn, I considered this a very entry level instrument to make sounds on and see if it was something I'd be interested in pursuing going forward. I understood the limitation and the probable flaws of an instrument claiming these features at this price point, and since I have some experience tinkering with violins to adjust sound and do small modifications, I considered this a reasonable risk to take since I could improve anything major that it was lacking. To those who may not be so handy, please understand to get a really good experience from this, you are going to need to take it to an experienced luthier who will need to adjust several aspects of your cello. So let's get in to the full review. Finish: This doesn't claim to be hand rubbed oil as the next step CCO-600 model claims to be, but it isn't any form of oil varnish at all. What you are getting is a clear or slightly tinted polyurethane finish on the instrument. You can tell somewhat by the smell, an oil varnish will have some scent of pine resin even after fully cured and a spirit varnish doesn't layer as thick as what you'll find on this instrument. You can clearly see spray and tape patterns on the neck joints and there is a thickness to the top coat that you get with a poly finish. It is not bad, but it is not great as well, you're probably going to have bubble marks and a bit of warping where there was some running of the finish. "Flamed Maple": So this was probably the most disappointing aspect of the cello. I was honestly hoping there was no "flame" on the back plate or ribs of the instrument since it was surely going to be fake. The flame effect is made by brushing on tea stain in a flamed pattern. This can look very realistic if someone puts a lot of time and effort into matching the characteristics of a flamed maple piece of wood. What causes the natural flamed effect in maple is the grain characteristics being exposed when the wood is cut in a particular way. Think of cutting a steak to reveal the fat marbled through the muscle as opposed to buying a bulk side of meat which hasn't been cut. Not all maple can display this characteristic, and the natural wood of the back and ribs of this cello can't. The effect is ruined by it being a factory instrument where someone was rushing and applied too much tea stain to certain parts which give it a tiger stripe effect rather than a deep flame luminescence. You can verify this by looking with a flashlight through the F holes of the instrument and seeing how the wood was cut and shaped, which is matched on the back plate but doctored to look differently. Don't buy this if that is an important feature for you since you're rolling the dice if the worker was skilled enough to apply the coloring in a convincing manner. Fittings: These all look to be solid ebony, I couldn't find any sign of it being a low grade piece of wood, and all ebony is dyed to an extent since it's not a pure black wood anyway. The important part is that it meets label claim and you're getting what you pay for. The pegs are not shaved well and have a roll to them when not secure in the peg hole. If you're skilled with a peg shaver and a reamer you can fix this yourself. I'm planning on putting geared pegs in here, so I don't have a problem with it. Sound impacting features: The sound post is not cut well to the contour of the instrument. This I may need to take in to have a new post fitted since sound posts are the devil and I have terrible luck getting them set right. The bridge is a basic stock blank that was carved using a jig it looks like. I will have to do some sanding, carving, and filing to get the string height right and get it to the right weight and thickness. The nut is pretty high and will need to be filed down a bit to get the string height at the head of the neck correct. Sound: I can not comment on this right now since my complete lack of skill on the instrument in addition to some of the previous items impacting the sound have not been addressed. I will say that there is a very sharp characteristic to the sound if that makes any sense. I would compare it to listening to solid state distortion versus tube distortion for a guitar player. There is an edge to the solid state that seems to take place in the higher frequencies of the overtones. A lot of cello recordings that I would consider a warm sounding tone seem to have there characteristics present more in the mid range of the frequency spectrum and that takes some of the sharpness out of it. For anyone who hasn't played with a guitar, just listen to something with the treble cranked way up and then back it off to about the mid to 1/3 way and you'll get an idea of what this sounds like to me. I think it's the strings in addition to the density of the bridge and tailpiece that is cranking those higher frequency overtones up to 11 (spinal tap). I will update this review in regards to sound when I have made the modifications and figure out how to play this thing. Thank you for reading and I hope this has helped in your decision making process.

I've only had it a day, but played it for about 40 minutes after spending about 10 minutes on setup and tuning. Overall it's a well build instrument with decent woods. It has a good tone, but the cheap strings kill the sound a little. The A and D are very shrill and tinny (yes, I rosined properly), but the G and C are acceptable. The bow is OK, mid grade - I was lucky to receive a straight bow and not have any bad luck with damage to the instrument during shipping. The soundpost was intact and there were only a few minor dings on the spruce top (it'll accrue more over time anyway). Do not go by the Amazon photos as a guide on to what to expect. The tail piece is ebony, but not black ebony or even dyed. It is more of a rosewood look (but definitely ebony, because the grain is so tight). I'm not sure about the quality of the fine tuners, but I'm considering just getting a real Macassar ebony tail and ditching the fine tuners. If you pull and clean your pegs at delivery (didn't but will do when my D'Addario strings arrive), you will have less issues with dropping tuning on the strings. Don't forget that it will take a few weeks for the neck to bow forward slightly. It need to do that to alleviate the buzz on the 2 high strings. It's a result of there being no string tension on the neck during (and probably before) shipping. That's why many store instruments are fine from the git-go, they've been sitting with strings on for awhile. Pulling the strings for a peghole cleaning and string swap won't assure enough time for the neck to straighten or backward bow again, unless you wait a few days to restring, then you asked for it. For the price it's a very good deal. My daughter has the 3/4 CCO-200 and it has performed very well over the last 3 months. I don't know where you can get a beginners/midrange Cello for less. If you're looking at one, take the chance and order a Cecelio. Just remember to properly align the bridge and be careful during the first tuning (a little pencil graphite on the notches in the nut and bridge slots help). If you have an issue with quality or damage, just ship it back. Also, not of advice - shipping is considerable unless you sign up with Prime. I'm not pitching for the deal (I don't work for Amazon or anything), but for less than shipping on a cello, you get 2 day shipping on all Prime items for a year. I order a lot from amazon so it was an AWESOME deal and saved me over $100 shipping on the Cello. Bottom line: Great beginners cello.

6-week update: I'm still happy with my purchase and still convinced it is a great value for an instrument in this price range. I replaced the strings (with "Charm" strings). The greater tension of the heaver strings caused the tailgut to fail. Turned out not to be a big deal. My luthier sold me a new, heavier one for just a few dollars and I was able to replace and restring. As others mention, it's worth investing in better strings, a better bow (on the way), and good rosin. I’m a 20-plus year violinist who is just starting out on the cello so I know what to look for in an instrument. The Cecilio CCO-500 is simply an amazing value. It’s not an instrument for advanced players, but for what it is, it’s a great bargain. I was lucky to get the step-up CCO-500 for just a little more than the CCO-100. A friend has a CCO-100 and the difference is significant. After two weeks and I’m favorably impressed. I’m really glad I got the CCO-500 for the solid spruce top. The laminated top on the CCO-100 may be great for kids just for durability, but the sound really won’t develop like an instrument with a solid spruce top. Just in two weeks of playing-in the sound has opened up and deepened. I know the heavy varnish and quality of the wood will limit the ultimate sound of the instrument, but so far, I’m quite impressed with the way the sound of the instrument has opened up in just two weeks of playing. So here’s the good and the bad of the CCO-500: • The finish is heavy, glossy, and there are minor imperfections. It’s probably polyurethane or lacquer. That said, the varnish color is a nice brown (no “beginner orange” like on the CCO-100) and the imperfections in the finish are not glaring so overall it's a nice-looking instrument. • The wood is better than I expected. The spruce top has a grain that while straight, doesn’t have the tight and consistent spacing that you get in a higher-level instrument. The maple is quite nice looking with some flaming visible on the backs and sides. The pegs, and fingerboard are supposed to be ebony and appear to me to be. I sanded a visible rough spot on the back side of the fingerboard, but that was minor and easy to fix. I believe it’s supposed to be inlaid purfling, but I can’t tell for sure. • The pegs fit reasonably well and don’t slip. • The bridge (which I had to set up myself) fit fairly well and was not too high. The string height above the fingerboard was consistent and at a comfortable height. • The tailpiece appears to be composite and looks fine. The fine tuners are shiny metal and look cheap and “student-y” but they all work fine so, no problem. • The sound post was securely in place (something that worried me after reading some reviews). But my cello came well boxed and stowed inside the hard case. No damage whatsoever. The accessories again are better than I expected, but still pretty cheap. But at this price point I’d rather the maker put their focus on the instrument and scrimp a bit on the accessories which can be replaced, so in this way, cheap accessories are preferable. • The bow is pretty bad. I had to do a significant amount of alteration to get it to tighten the hair fully and the hair is a little scrimpy. That said, it is basically functional. However, my first upgrade will be a decent carbon fiber bow. • The strings are OK. Not as thin and metallic as I expected so I’m not going to replace them until I’m a little more proficient, considering the cost of cello strings. An extra set is provided. • The rosin is neatly and durably packaged in a plastic sleeve inside a sturdy fiberboard box with a hinged lid. It’s a light rosin and I’ll probably want a darker and better quality rosin. But again, serviceable. You’ll have to sand the top of the cake a bit to get the rosin to grab on the bow, but you have to do this on all rosin. • The cases are impressive just because you get two: a hard case and a soft gig-bag. The hard case is a bit bulky, with a strangely coffin-like appearance, but with convenient wheels. The gig bag is a little thinner than ideal, but does have padding and is light and makes it easy to carry. • The included stand is fine and very handy to have since I leave mine out for spur-of-the-moment practicing. All told, I would definitely recommend the Cecilio CCO-500 to anyone just starting the cello and/or on a budget. If I’d known I could get an instrument of this quality for this price I probably would have gotten one earlier!

I am not Yo-Yo Ma and therefore my requirements when purchasing a beginner cello were few. So few, in fact, that a YouTube review of beginner student cellos lead me to this model which I purchased and excitedly awaited. I knew that it was going to look pretty cheap, that I would need to replace the bow right away and probably all of the strings (but definitely the A), and that the rosin it comes with is pretty much worthless. I chose this one over the others in this price range because of the sound - there was a resonance to the sound that many other beginner cellos on Amazon did not have. It had a bit of warmth too it which is what I was going for. HERE ARE THE PROS: It came packaged super securely, so that was impressive. It plays well for a beginner instrument for someone who is not Yo-Yo Ma, it is in the price range of someone with five dogs and two kids who could knock it over, and if some of the little kinks can be worked out, might be well worth the $300 now to make sure you're invested enough in the cello at 43 to spend 3x that in a year when you've earned your upgrade. It comes with the bridge not setup and that process is actually incredibly easy to do, and mine did have the soundpost installed upon arrival (and from what I can see, it's in the proper place). HERE ARE THE CONS (CELLO): The finish on this thing is terrible. I did not want the "natural" finish because the "natural finish" looks like the foundation color of girls from Essex (thank you, trash TV). Instead I chose the gloss black, unsure if it was a sparkly black or more of a gloss sheen. Well, let's just say that it's definitely a gloss sheen that began chipping off the edges of the cello as I removed it from the padded case it came in. You can see drips where whatever was sprayed didn't dry properly. The bottom lower edge of the cello must have rubbed during shipment, along with a few other edges, or the finish literally just flakes off of this with very little effort required. They did not spray the finish into the f-holes, which left the inner edges visibly white. The C and G strings are meh - the D and A strings are awful and definitely need to be replaced. The pegs slip, and slip badly at first so be prepared. I had to tune this thing at least six times because finding that sweet spot between not trying to force a peg into the hole and pushing it in just far enough to hold takes a bit of practice. I did make it through a 35 minute practice session afterwards, so that says something. HERE ARE THE CONS (ACCESSORIES): Bit of an off smell when I took it out of the package. Definitely not that of quality wood or components but more of chemicals. Not sure if it was the finish, the bag, or what. The stand (in bubble wrap in the box) is mediocre at best - my cello does not feel secure while standing on this thing whatsoever. Deffo not a cello stand - this thing is made for electric guitars. The rosin is basically worthless and has to be sanded in order to use it, but doesn't come with sand paper. You will sit there forever and try to rosin your bow only to waste a lot of time and energy for nothing without sanding it. As mentioned above, the strings are meh and/or awful so the second set will be replaced as well. The bow feels nice in my hand (although I have a feeling that my opinion may change once my carbon fiber bow arrives tomorrow) and I did manage to pull some open strings with it, but there were a few broken hairs when I pulled it out of the package. The padded case seems okay and totally fine for a cello that can't hold onto it's finish. I called K&K Music Store after receiving the package and noticing the flaking finish to see if there was any partial refund I could get. After waiting for a good 15 minutes to connect with an associate, I finally was able to talk to someone who told me that because Amazon fulfilled the order, there was nothing that they could do because I did not order it directly through them. They connected me to Amazon's customer service center who informed me that my only option was to send the cello back for a replacement. I sat there for a second and debated whether or not to send it back, knowing full and well that my issues with the finish could very well happen again. I've chosen (as of night 1 of ownership) to keep it and honor it as my first cello. My hope is that it lasts me at least 6 months to a year of daily practice play and, if I'm still as in love with the instrument while I'm learning to play it as I am when I'm just listening to it, I'll upgrade to an intermediate cello as a gift to myself.

This is a review of the CCO-600 I received but as I received both the CCO-500 (returned) and CCO-600 I will include information comparing the two, as I found comparisons hard to find when I was looking at reviews for these instruments. We are retired and purchased the Cecilio CCO-600 for my wife, who is just beginning to learn to play the cello. It is a beautiful looking and beautiful sounding instrument. We originally purchased a CCO-500 which had some non-shipping related damage and, after speaking to KKMusic (who offered to replace the 500 with another), decided to purchase the 600. The 500 was beautiful also and great sounding to our ears but the 600 had a fuller sound with more projection - I could feel the C string's vibration in my body from a short distance away. Customer service at KKMusic was responsive and friendly. I had a cello teacher look at and play both the 500 and 600. While he was impressed with CCO-500 for the price and thought it beautifully made he said the CCO-600 was much better, calling the 500 a "student cello" in comparison. The 500 had a shiny heavy finish which looks pretty and the wood used for the top, sides, and the bottom is lovely. The "flaming" is painted with tea stain, unlike the real flaming on the 600, but well done. The tone of the cello was resonant and deep. The wood used in the 600 was obviously hand-picked, with the spruce top having close grains in the center and widening towards the sides. The maple sides and backs are gorgeous with their flaming (real flaming where you can observe the shift from dark to light to dark when you move the instrument in the light) and the oil finish does nothing to obscure the beauty of the instrument. On both cellos, there were minor imperfections due to the hand carving and perhaps handling after the cello was made - the 600 has a sliver of one of the corners of the bout that has been glued back on, but you have to look close to discover it. The 500 did have a serious 3 1/2" deep scratch along with the bridge being cut a bit too short, which is why we returned it. As mentioned in the item listing both cellos had the bridge down and tied with a ribbon to the neck. I found them easy to install after watching a video by Linda West (https://www.lindawest.com/setting-up-a-bridge-on-a-cello-a/108.htm) - there is both a video and step-by-step pictures and descriptions on the page. Both cello's sounding peg was upright and in place. Both cellos, one shipped by USPS and one by UPS, arrived without undue damage to the boxes or contents. There seems to be some inconsistency in the packing process: The CCO-500 barely had any packing material, just some wadded up heavy plastic and nothing else. There was no additional protection in the hard (cardboard?) case with the cello and the bow was in one of the bow holders in the case. The CCO-600 had the box lined with 1/2" thick pieces of styrofoam, then a combination of bubble wrap and air pillows. The fiberglass case itself was encased in a sleeve and inside the case was more bubble wrap protecting the cello. The cello bow was separately wrapped in bubble wrap and placed in the box outside of the case. We did spend $20 at a music store to have the footing of the bridge for the 600 sanded and fitted properly as it did not fit completely flat to the body of the cello. For $20 I figured it was worth having a professional do the job. The 500's bridge footing fitted perfectly once I set it up. I suspect the 600 might not have gone through a complete set-up process in Cecilio's California site before being sent out. The nuts holding the fine tuners to the bridge were loose and the cello's strings looked to be put in haphazardly; I need to unwind and rewind so they didn't cross themselves in the pegbox. The 500's strings were wound perfectly and the fine tuner was tightly affixed to the tailpiece. These items weren't a problem and easily remedied. I would recommend purchasing the cello through Amazon, as you won't be charged anything if returning the instrument (at least through Prime). KKMusic on their site states there is a $69 charge for cello returns, plus the customer handles return postage. The KKMusic site does offer a couple of other knick-knacks for the same price. You might want to check out both sites as I see the price of CCO-600 on Amazon is now $999.99 and on KKMusic is $899.99 - the price I paid on Amazon a few days ago. The fiberglass (or ABS) case that came with my 600 included a built-in handle on the head of the case for hauling around if you're dragging the case using the wheels. I noticed this handle in the Cecilio video but not on the pictures here at Amazon or at KKMusic. The case is fairly heavy, somewhat a chore for my 5' 3" wife to haul in and out of the car. The hard case for the 500 feels like heavy cardboard covered in simulated leather vinyl with a plush red interior. The interior material seems to be the same with both the 600 and 500 hard cases. When talking with Customer Service at KKMusic (which is the distribution arm of Cecilio - same physical address in California) the rep told me, after checking with someone else, the wood used in the Cecilio cellos was aged from 3 to 5 years. The 600 description states the wood is aged at least 7 years, so her information may have been for the models under the 600. There wasn't anyone that could give me a definitive answer even though I ended speaking to a supervisor for 20 minutes - she offered to contact the people that would know, but that would still just be someone's word. The 600 certainly uses a better grade of wood all around, but of course, there is no way to tell actual aging of wood used in any instrument. We are very pleased with the fit and finish of the 600 we received - I went over the instrument inch-by-inch, using a magnifying glass at times. I think a begining student would be happy with either cello. I went with the step-up so we wouldn't be looking for something better in a few years.

Beautiful for a beginner cellist!

Missing parts

El instrumento es bonito y parece bueno, pero el arco es de segunda mano y con señales de un mal uso, y las cuerdas de ínfima calidad con sonido a metálico. La Atención al cliente fue excelente y bastante buena la logística pero, al final, me conpensaron con un 15% de descuento muy lejos del importe de sustitución o reparación del arco y compra de un solo juego de cuerdas aceptables. NO ME RECATO DE HABLAR DE DEFECTOS Y COMPENSACIONES

I suppose it's good for a beginner. One thing was broken when I got it. It didn't include the music book like it said on the description. But your own quality rosin as the one that comes with it, is garbage. The head pins don't hold very well. Came quickly and the colour is beautiful!

Very good product.