Help - cello advice needed

[sausageandbeans]

DD has recently started playing the 1/4 size cello, she is loving it and have instrument on loan from school. Fortunately this fell and either needs repairing or replacing as has a crack in the neck. Does anyone know of any organisations, places that sell cheap 1/4 cellos, should this be needed? They all seem so expensive when I have looked them up for an instrument she will grow out of in a year!

I would wait until she's taken it back to school and had the damage assessed. They know that accidents happen, things get bumped or knocked over even in the most caring households. They will be used to dealing with accidents, if it never came out of the case there would be no risk of damage but that's not what instrument loan is about is it?

Dd sat in her treble recorder at recorder sinfonia. It was one of their matching set . It was sorted under the insurance they held.

DD dropped her double bass and broke the neck off. It cost us £300. We are expected to have our own loan instrument insurance.

Ds has bumped the bridge on his and now it's lose I hire his from a company. It's a full size cello and I'm waiting for them to go to the school to repair it.

You can hire them from music shops which is a lot cheaper then buying on. I think they give you a discount the same as the amount you've paid if you do decide to buy one. The school would have insurance for the cello.

sorry, "loose"

Try Gumtree, but be prepared to find a local luthier (violin maker) to make any adjustments needed to improve the instrument if e.g. the bridge needs adjusting.

The hire company were going to go to the school and repair it. It's been a couple of weeks though

LadySybil, the bridge just has to be put back in place, which is an adjustment rather than a repair. The bridge is never attached to the instrument. A good teacher could probably set the bridge up for you, unless the soundpost (little piece of wood inside the cello which supports the bridge) has moved or fallen over.

OP, has the neck of the cello been separated from the main body of the instrument? or has the finger board (long piece of black wood) become detached from the neck (brown wood)? It would be unusual for the neck to actually crack, as it is a relatively solid and strong piece of wood.

You would need a luthier to decide if the instrument is worth repairing.

Yup, that's it, the soundpost has come loose.

Don't worry, this is not a big problem. The placement of the soundpost is very important to the sound of the instrument, but just putting it up in a reasonable place will only take 5 minutes, and might be free or cost quite little.

If your child is very advanced, he or she might fuss about the exact placement and pay a lot of money to have it fiddled with by an expert, but that is not an issue for you right now-

thanks, I think that the neck has cracked down the joint where it attaches to the main body. Have found a luthier who has agreed to look at it tomorrow. I never thought of insurance though, if it comes to this it is a good idea to look into.

My ds has just started cello lessons at school, with a cello on loan from county council music dept. I've insured it for about £30 for a year in case he breaks it (quite likely)!