A new cello

Upgrading my cello was a very important step in my career. I dreamt about it and imagined that I would be playing on an instrument that was easy to play and could sound any way that I wanted. I envisioned the octaves to be a snap and the loudest ff to be so easy I could relax while pulling the bow. My thoughts ran with the potential of a perfect cello that would be my practice, audition, and performance instrument. It would make my life so much easier and better. Did it? Yes, even if I don't practice I still can make it sound pretty good. It's a free sound and a direct sound as well as vibrating excitedly even with the slightest pizzicato or the lightest bow stroke. It feels like I only have to initiate the sound with only minimal effort and the music comes out of the cello.

It was the summer of 2008 in Chicago, IL. I had been to quite a few shops and had tried out numerous instruments both in the shops and at home. Even after more than a dozen (perhaps two or three dozen if I count all the instruments that weren't even considered to be worthy of purchase and those that were played for fun though out of my budget). Up in the top floor of the Fine Arts building on Michigan Ave. in the shop of Bein and Fushi I found myself holding a brand new cello. This cello had been finished only a week or so before. I was one of the first to play it and I was sitting down with it and gingerly drawing the bow over the strings to test out the sound. What was this sound? Why was it so easy to make a pleasing sound with it? After some scales and excerpts of concertos I stopped to think about the response of the strings and the tone produced with the bow and by pizzicato. Was I really getting the beautiful ring that I had envied with others' instruments?

Perhaps I was being fooled by the brand new instrument.....but wait! A new instrument isn't supposed to ring and vibrate so exuberantly! I tried again and again and pleasantly received the same lush sound with each pluck and each bow stroke. It was nearly a purchase right then and there, well, at least it was that feeling of wanting it some way, somehow. None the less, I took it home for a few days to test it in the environment that it could potentially have for most of it's life with me.

When I arrived home with the cello I pulled it out of its case immediately and began to play in the carpeted and low ceiling room. To my great pleasure the ring and the tone were all still present. After the trial time had expired I returned to the shop and began the purchase process. It was definitely going to be part of my life.

The cello by William Whedbee, fecit 2008 in Chicago has been a companion in growth from the first day I brought it home as mine. The tone has expanded just as my ability to pull out beautiful tone has expanded. The depth of sound in the cello's qualities has grown just as my search for depth and new layers has grown. I expect that this cello can keep on developing just I will continue to develop. It has been a great three years with this instrument. Here's to health and music!

Breaking in a New Cello

Now that the search and purchase was over and done with I could focus my attention on practicing. The instrument was fantastic. Yes, that is true. However, it was a change. We all know that change is welcomed on many occasions but at the same time can be a challenge to overcome too. I was used to a larger instrument, but that wasn't a big deal. The smaller bouts were greeted with pleasure since it was actually easier to sit with. As I mentioned before, the response was immediate and full of vibrations that wouldn't die away seemingly forever, that was just awesome. That was one of the big reasons I liked the Wheedbee so much in the first place--no problem there.

What was the biggest challenge of changes that I faced? Mainly it was the learning curve on what a new instrument would do when faced with changing weather and climates. A synopsis of this cello's history: 1) Whedbee put the final coat of varnish on it only in early July 2008, 2) the cello was setup--end pin installed, bridged carved and fitted, strings put on for the very first time--just weeks before I went to Bein and Fushi for the first time looking for cellos, 3) I was practically the first to play on the instrument during that first trip to the shop, 4) I was the first owner of this cello.

What does all that mean as far as getting used to the instrument? In reality, it wasn't me getting used to the cello as much as the wood was getting used to its new found structure, that is, in the shape of a cello. Wood planks are chiseled, planed and sanded to get the right thickness and shape. The bouts --sides of the cello, which are curved--in addition to the chiseling, are also molded into the shape. The parts are glued and clamped together in a long and exacting process, assembling the cello piece by piece until you get the body or box of the instrument. The neck is glued into place as well to finish the process of the main cello. For the cello to withstand the immense amount of pressure that the steel strings have on the instrument it has to be precisely fitted and glued, even reinforced at strategic spots so the whole thing will not simply snap in two once the strings are tightened up.

Although tension is high once the strings are in place and tight, the wooden instruments--held together by glue--somehow withstands the rigors of vibration and being picked and put down, transported in a case and even bumped (by accident). However, just like a person being pulled from one side and then another--"Hey, come with me", "No, come with me", sort of a feeling--the cello also gets this treatment. After all, the wood was forced--molded--into the curved shapes and then glued together. Can't you imagine the person being pulled in one direction then another would want to revert back to his/her relaxed position? That's what's happening with the cello but on a continuous basis from the very first time the pieces were glued together. All this time it is resisting the changes and seeks to "relax" itself, reducing the tension placed upon the seams, or where the pieces of wood were glued together.

The seams are the pressure release valves on a cello. If the tension is off or becomes unbearable for the instrument this is usually the first place to go. The seam opens up and therefore releases the tension and, consequently, also half of the sound. The first time this happened on this cello I was wasn't expecting it at all. After all, it was brand new. What was there that should go wrong with a new instrument?

It was November 2008 and the weather had changed to the cooler and dryer climate of the ensuing winter months. The heat was on in the apartment and the moisture was being evaporated as fast as it was produced. That's life in the Midwest. I guess I was thinking that it was new and didn't need quite the attention as my old cello did. WRONG. And quite possibly the biggest factor that I hadn't accounted for was the fact that my cello was finished up in the middle of summer when the humidity was the highest and the temperatures were the hottest. Does wood expand when it's wet? Does wood contract when it's dry? Yes, and yes again.

Not only was the tension of the strings bearing down on the glued seams but the dry air was sucking all the moisture out of the wood and causing the pieces to shrink. Now I was dealing with a cello that was trying to pull itself apart. The glue couldn't hold any longer and finally let go allowing the seam to open along the back of the cello down at the bottom near the end pin. This happened several more times during the Winter. Luckily, I know benevolent luthiers who are also really good at repairing string instruments, so it didn't cost too much.

In the end, I did learn a lot about an instrument and how it "grows" into it's determined shaped. It takes time for it to adjust to the tension and the expanding with humid days along with the opposite pull during dry days. Now I just moisten the humidifiers in the cello case every day during the Fall and Winter regardless of the humidity inside or out. The easiest way to avoid going to the luthier unnecessarily is by keeping the humidity level up.