Cecilio- Musical Instrument for Beginners - 4/4 Full Size Cellos Kit with Bow, Stand, Bag - Stringed Music Instruments for School Orchestras, Performances,Blue

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.

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.

I bought this for my daughter to take back and forth between home and school because we didn't want her nice (ie expensive) cello to get banged up in the band room. The school had some cellos but not enough for everyone. After a few months, it's worked out pretty well. The bag is backpack and so it helps her to carry it easier then a regular cello case would. The bag isn't high quality though and will probably not last much more than a single school year. So - 1 star for that. The cello itself is ok quality. Her teacher says it sounds ok. It's not stellar but for school it's fine. The quality seems to be pretty good. The only real problem we've had is the bridge was too short. We knew nothing about cellos so didn't realize what was wrong until her she came home one day saying that notes lower on the neck were hard to play and her teacher had advised her we get someone to look at it. Luckily we were able to compare it to her other cello and noticed the bridge was a good half inch too short. We swapped bridges temporarily and it made all the difference. So another -1 star for the bridge issue. So I ordered a new Full Size 4/4 Cello Bridge it was only $6 so I figured what did I have to loose. When we got it, we use the other bridge as a template and cut it down making sure we lined up the center of the bridge, meaning we had to trip both the top and the feet. Then I notched where the strings were. She used it yesterday at school with the new bridge and said it was fine. So all in all we're pretty happy. It's saved us having to rent a cello with insurance or borrow one of the school. And for the price if something happens to it, we won't be terribly sad because it's way less than renting. So +1 star for value. I'd recommend it as a student cello for carrying back and forth from a Jr High or High School or storing at one.

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.

We haven't had the cello for long, but based on previous amateur experience with sting instruments, this seems like it would be an overall decent beginner's cello if it wasn't missing the promised stand and if it wasn't damaged during manufacturing or packaging. The good: It's easy to produce a pretty pleasant tone and the initial setup wasn't too difficult, though instructions included with the instrument, especially for how to set the bridge, would have been helpful for the inexperienced, beginning cellist that doesn't have experience with how to do this. With that said, there are good instructions and videos on the internet that can walk you through it, if you don't want to have a luthier perform this work. The internal sound post survived shipping, despite UPS's best efforts to knock it loose. The hard case has some flex to it but is fairly sturdy, despite obviously not having a hard wooden or composite shell. Only time will tell how long it survives under my accident prone 8 y/o's care but I really appreciate the additional peace of mind it provides over just a soft case like almost all other kits offer. The finish isn't perfect, but it is good overall, with flaws only being noticeable if you're specifically looking for them. I couldn't locate any when further than a foot or two away. The meh: The strings are okay and are likely sufficient for the first couple weeks/months of lessons, but you'll want to upgrade as soon as they wear out or sooner if you want a better sound. The included bow has multiple hairs significantly looser than the rest, even when it is properly tightened. The gap between the hairs and the shaft of the bow is far wider than it should be when tightened. I generally use a carbon fiber bow on my violin and so am more accustomed to a very light bow, but even taking that into account, this one seems particularly heavy. Being a beginner bow, I'm not sure getting it rehaired would be worth the cost, so between that and the weight we'll probably just end up upgrading to a better bow, and probably sooner rather than later. The velcro straps to secure the neck of the cello and the bow in the hard case are sturdy but barely stay stuck together. Hopefully, that'll get better with use as the hooks and loops loosen up a bit, but only time will tell. The housing for the end pin fell out of the cello as soon as I removed the instrument from the case but that was easily remedied by reseating it in the hole with some pushing and twisting. Given the state of the cardboard box the case came in, I'll chalk this one up to rough handling during shipping combined the strings being loose for shipping and therefore not providing tension via the tailpiece and tailgut to help hold it in place. If rough shipping is the culprit, some additional packaging/padding to hold it in place during transit is needed. The tuning pegs did not turn smoothly at first, being either loose enough that they didn't hold their tune well or were tight enough that turning them led to large "skips" that caused you to significantly overshoot/undershoot the intended note. This is less of an issue when your cello has fine tuners, as this one does (if they're functional, see below about the fine tuners). However, removing the pegs and applying some peg dope made this issue significantly better. Including a tube of peg dope in the kit wouldn't be a bad idea, but with or without that addition, I'd recommend the manufacturer apply some peg dope prior to shipping to make the experience far less frustrating for beginning cellists. Having to remove the pegs to apply peg dope just to be able to get started adds an unnecessary challenge for a cellist that may not yet know why they are having can't keep their instrument in tune. The soft case has minimal padding. It'll work to hold the cello, and would probably be fine for an adult who knows to be careful, but I'll only be trusting my 8 y/o with the hard case for quite some time. Still, having the option for both is a nice touch and the inclusion of the hard case, unlike almost all other cello setups, was a significant factor in my choosing this cello for my accident prone daughter The bad: The included folding stand described in the listing was not included. Upon opening the case for the first time, I found that one of the fine tuners on the tailpiece was destroyed, with the thumb screw of the fine tuner having been snapped off. This resulted in the fine tuner being completely non-functional beyond just holding the end of the string. While the state of the shipping box the kit came in made it obvious that it not treated with the care a package labeled "fragile" should have been (thanks to UPS, definitely not the manufacturer's fault), there was no damage to the hard case and nothing was loose in the case that could have caused such damage. The snapped off head of the thumb screw was also not present anywhere in the case, leading me to believe that it was destroyed during manufacturing or packaging rather than during shipping. Requiring this kind of repair before even playing a single note is completely unacceptable, for any new instrument, regardless of the price point. Because it's something I am comfortable fixing myself I'll be replacing the fine tuner myself or entire tailpiece rather than going through the return process to get a replacement cello. While the parts themselves aren't a significant cost, many beginning cellists or their parents won't have the experience to be comfortable handing this type of repair without incurring the additional ~$30-50 to have a luthier make the repairs for them on top of the cost of the parts. All of which should have been unnecessary on a new, unused instrument in the first place. Overall, would I purchase this kit again? Honestly, it's a bit of a toss-up. The price is good, but being broken immediately out of the box and requiring repairs negates most of the difference between this set-up and others that may be of slightly higher quality that cost more. Ultimately, though, this is intended to be an inexpensive cello for a beginner and, aside from the damage, that's exactly what it is. For an instrument that will be used for a few years until our daughter outgrows and upgrades to a full size, better quality instrument (assuming she continues playing), it fits our needs quite well.

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.

If you have ever played any instruments, you know they are expensive. A cello is one of the more expensive instruments to start with. Our house if full of instruments and I bought this as a second, just for fun, instrument for someone who usually plays the clarinet. I personally play the violin and own a DZ Strad. I was unwilling to pay the $1200plus price tag on the cheapest DZ Strad cello for someone who is just starting. So, to the actual cello: 1. Its beautiful, like a more expensive instrument. Nice flaming on the back and sides and a great color overall. 2. You will need to replace the strings and rosin ASAP. I went with D'Addario Pro-Arte strings and its a solid choice. I went with Pirastro rosin, but any good quality one will do. If you go with higher quality strings it might take some fiddling to get them in the fine tuners. 3. The bridge was a bit of a struggle to set up, probably because I was so worried about hurting the instrument and no instructions were included. But just line it up with the inner notches of the f-hole and centered on the body and you are good to go. As you tighten the strings, the bridge will begin to lean toward the fingerboard. Just flatten the bridge feet against the cello body as you go and will be okay. 4. The sound of the actual cello is warm and full bodied. Much better sounding than I expected. 5. Replace your bow as soon as you can. You an use the bow that it came with to start, but its heavier, making it more tiring to practice with for a prolonged period of time. 6. Download a tuner app on your cell phone to tune the cello. Be patient, it will take a while to tighten the strings. Be patient and look to your tuner as you make adjustments. 7. I suggest Essential elements as a starting book if you are brand new to string instruments or Suzuki Method if you can read music already. 8. Buy a music stand, you will need it if you don't already have one. 9. The cello stand that this came with is great. Basic but it does its job. 10. The 2 cases that came with the instrument are okay. The hard case is a lower quality than the gig bag, but both will do their job. We plan on our cello being out all the time because we practice daily and both cases will just end up in storage. We are very happy with our purchase and will probably go with Cecilio brand string instruments in the future for our kids. We usually buy from local music stores, but for the same price you can get a higher quality instrument with Cecilio. My only recommendation is to never go with the base model. We will def buy again.

Beautiful for a beginner cellist!

It comes prepped for shipping, so the strings are attached, but loose. Having already owned a violin, I had a better idea how to set it up, but still needed to look up which direction the bridge sits online. It's a $240 cello.. I assume it doesn't sound perfect, but I think it sounds really good for the price. The case is soft, but the stand makes up for it.

Missing parts

Sofar this seems like a great product for the price. It was simple to set up (with help from youtube) and an iphone app got it tuned quickly. As other reviews have said, the rosin is bad, i was putting it on the bow for 10 minutes and could barely get any sound - bought an $8 rosin at a local store and it worked great.

Wow je l'adore