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skinzie
Registered User
Posts: 1
(8/3/01 3:46:20 pm)
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Returning
Cellist Experience with New Stringworks Maestro
This posting is a summary the selection and purchase of my Maestro
Cello from Stringworks.com, and my return to the instrument. This is
the first time I've posted on any of the ICS bulletin boards so
please forgive and enlighten me for any lapse in netiquette!
First some background. I studied the cello somewhat
seriously for 13 years, from age 8 to 21, and played in several
different symphonies through that time. My last year of
undergraduate school I (gasp) sold my cello to pay tuition,
convincing myself that a cheap guitar would suffice as an outlet (it
didn't). Then I got a job, family, house, dog, mini-van etc... and
forgot about the whole thing for 17 years. For the last couple of
years strings have really been on my mind, and when I had a personal
health crises this last winter I decided it was a good time to get
back into the cello.
Boy, do you forget a lot in 17
years!
I had lost all my "network" of string players. My two
principle mentors had since died, and most of the companies I did
business with no longer existed. My previous instrument was an early
20th century German cello, and had been selected by my teacher and
paid for by my parents. So interestingly even though I had all this
background, effectively in many ways I was starting out cold in
researching an instrument.
Because I was on an LOA from work,
I had the novelty of lots of time to surf the net, make phone calls,
read catalogues and literature, and when health permitted - visit
luthiers here in Colorado. I would not be surprised to find out that
I spent 100 hours over a six month period - certainly a luxury for
most of us (and hey, it was better than laying in bed watching soap
operas feeling sorry for myself!)
The upshot is that I ran
into Todd, we had several good conversations, and he suggested I try
out an instrument he was then about to sell. He has since marketed
this as the Maestro from Stringworks.com - if you look at their
website, my instrument is literally the featured Stradivari pattern
instrument on the main Maestro Cello page. By the way, don't confuse
this with the Gliga Maestro which is a different
maker.
Ultimately I purchased the instrument and I'm very
happy with it. To me it has a comparable tone/color to many older
early 1900s cellos I've played at luthiers that generally run in the
$5-7K price range. No question that if I had $50K to spend I would
have an older instrument, but my observation is that many people are
over-paying for instruments because of the "old aura". The tone is
warm and bright, but not overly bright. It has a nice color range,
the craftsmanship is excellent, the varnish beautiful and the
fittings are very nice. It came with a Bice carbon tailpin, and I
added a Les Bois d'Harmonie tailpiece myself which I'm very pleased
with. I would say the setup was fine, but as my skills return I did
have some adjustments made especially to the bridge. I think
starting out you'd like to think everything is perfect from the
beginning, but in reality we all develop personal taste and things
like bridge, fingerboard and string preference evolve. The only
feedback I gave Todd was that the pegs weren't fitted quite right,
but I'm sure by now his luthier has addressed this in their quality
process before shipping. I had a local luthier refit two of the pegs
and everything is great.
I also purchased a Conservatory
Coda-Bow from Stringworks, as well as a nice pernambuco bow from
another channel. The graphite Coda-Bow plays wonderfully, frankly
better than the much more expensive traditional bow.
Todd's
assistant was also kind enough to loan me a many different
brands/types of strings which I experimented with for about a month.
All in all I agree on this instrument that the Helicore supplied as
delivered handle very nicely and sound among the best - even though
they are all steel! But of course personal taste prevails
here.
As to the "re-learning" process, it has been both
terribly fun and very therapeutic. No magic here, I just got the
Essentials for Strings series, the Art of Playing the Cello, some
books of Etudes and Scale Studies, and pieces I like - and just
forced myself to obtain mastery of each exercise before moving on.
The difference I think is that somewhere in the recesses of my body
and mind I still remember how to do all these things, and I've been
recovering about 6-9 months of study every week. As an adult I am
certainly much more objective and self disciplined than as a youth,
and that has made a great difference. And, I also have a healthy
classical and chamber music CD library to listen to which is also
useful.
Anyway, I'm glad to be back and look forward to
running into many of you out there in years to come - and hope this
proves useful to another "returner"!
Cheers,
Marc
McKenzie
Windsor, Colorado
Edited by: Todd
French  at: 8/3/01 4:35:18
pm
|
Todd
French
Moderator
Posts: 228
(8/3/01 4:38:49 pm)
Reply
 |
Re: Returning
Cellist Experience with New Stringworks Maestro
Re: editing - sorry, Marc, I tried to edit out my name from the
posting in several spots because of possible "conflict of interest"
and in the interest of others on this board as per a request from
one user, so that's why it shows your posting as edited.
|
CelloBass
Registered User
Posts: 39
(8/3/01 5:00:52 pm)
Reply
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Re: Returning
Cellist Experience with New Stringworks Maestro
Todd,
are there special rules for posting experiences with
instruments, companies etc.?
Horst
|
Todd
French
Moderator
Posts: 229
(8/3/01 5:10:46 pm)
Reply
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Re: Returning
Cellist Experience with New Stringworks Maestro
Horst,
Not for general users, just the moderator, so you
have nothing to worry about. Continue to share your opinions and
reviews on the board because there are many cellists here who
benefit from that. It is a conflict of interest for me to comment on
instruments because my opinion MAY carry more weight than others
because I am the moderator (as expressed by an individual on this
board earlier).
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