Cecilio Full Size Student Cello 4/4CCO-100

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.

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.

Good instrument for the price. Arrived in good condition with sound post intact. Probably, not for a beginner as some set up is required – bridge, and rosin needs sanding to deliver residue to the bow for it to catch the strings properly. As a violist who always fancied a cello this was a great purchase. Lots of accessories and the sound is very good.