Update 2022: this rugged beaut came back in via trade after many years so I've updated its post entirely.
My friend Rick owned this 4/4 cello for ages. I know nothing about the maker but the style of build suggests anywhere between 1850 and around 1900 in terms of date. I'm guesstimating it's from around 1880-1895 just on my general hunch about it. When it was made it was clearly an expensive instrument and made by a smaller, dedicated shop. I'm assuming it's German-made as that's where most import instruments of this style were from in the 1800s but the reality is I just don't know for sure.
The top and back are cut quite thin and light and the whole instrument only weighs a bit over 6 lbs despite having relatively heavy brass tuners installed. As you might expect, this thing sounds gorgeous. I mean -- it's very full-sounding, warm, and open. I have a set of Pirastro Flexocor strings on it, too, and they both feel nice under the fingers and sound top-of-the-line as well.
I will say this, though: this cello has has a rugged, storied past. When I first met it, it was completely stripped of finish, had sort-of repaired cracks in the top, lacked hardware of any kind, and had burst seams all over the place. I went through it (originally) in a budget-oriented fashion, getting everything back together, cleated, and secured. I then fit a new bridge, sealed the instrument (marks, warts, and all in the finish) with a thin, wipe-on varnish, and set it all up. To my credit on that count, it hasn't moved at all in 10 years save for minor weather-related adjustments to the setup.
There are all sorts of things "wrong" about this instrument for a true classical player. I believe, really, that this has the potential to be a "nice concert instrument," but it's been made to be useful as a practical instrument for home and live and move-about use. It has nice, German-made geared tuners at the headstock (done in double bass fashion), the bridge was recut to accept adjuster posts like a double bass might have, and there's a honking piece of lower-bout top that's been replaced with a piece of cedar that more-or-less matches the color of the instrument. It's not perfect and it doesn't intend to be, but it does play well and sounds beautiful.
I took this in trade recently (2022) and so I've been updating all this information so it can move-on to its next home. There are plenty of blemishes on this guy but, hands-down, it's one of the best-sounding cellos I've heard in-person. It's very hard to find ones this lightly-built and responsive and it makes a huge difference in the enjoyment for the player to have something that does that low, sub-harmonic-like C note in such a way that this does. You can tell that it had a lot care put-in when it was made, too, judging by the precision of the cut to the scroll and all of the details in the body.
Repairs included: (recently) a quick setup and adjustments. Previously -- I mentioned them all above, but the first round of repairs included cleating and sealing any poorly-repaired old hairline cracks, regluing any loose seams, adding extra cleats to the center seam, and lightly-sanding and applying finish to the stripped body. Later-on I added adjuster posts for the bridge and geared tuners at the headstock to make it an easier instrument to adjust while on the road.
Condition notes: there are too many to list, but suffice to say there are a few longer (old) top crack repairs that have been cleated and secured. The back seam was also separated, pushed back together, and filled a long time ago. I added a lot of cleats to that to make it secure as well. The neck has a mild amount of "scoop" to it which is fine for the average player, but a lightning-fingers folk player wanting to do fiddle-style tunes on this will want to plane the board level. The bridge is odd, too -- it has adjuster wheels like a double bass and the top is lightly-deformed via tension but still doing its job. There are geared (quality) tuners at the headstock. The nut is thin, small, and bone like a guitar nut rather than wide and large like a cello nut. This was done more for fun than for any practical reason, as I recall. There's a strange little "burst" part in the side near endpin area, too, but that's been filled and secured and hasn't moved since I last saw it in 2013.
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