Pirate Luthier update
Two years ago, when I was looking for a cello as Heinrich the family cello was about to move out to rejoin the young cellist, I looked at an old German cello which wasn't playable because the bridge was dangerously warped and the glue was coming unstuck in a couple of places. I didn't buy it then as I needed a reliably playable instrument.
Now as I heard from somebody else looking for a cello to play, I checked up on that old cello and it was still in the same state. After two years of fiddling with lots of fiddles, I now felt ready to fix something bigger and took it on.
It doesn't have a case yet, so I lent it one of my old sweaters for protection against knocks:
Which also has the advantage I can do a dramatic reveal - it is actually a very beautiful old cello, reportedly dating from the 19th century and possibly from Mittenwald:
It also has a very beautiful backside:
It has a fake Stradivarius label much like eg my aunt's violin, which is more of a Markneukirchen kind of instrument, and a serial number stamped into the inside of the pegbox, which I'm not sure about - maybe just inventorised by a trader?
I happened to have an bridge sitting around (decommissioned by a professional cellist but perfectly good for me) and some strings from the same source. So set it up with these recycled materials keeping two of its original Larsen strings, but the lower two strings were corroded and not usable). So the setup now looks like this:
I glued the bits that needed to be glued and cut a cava cork to shield the spike (like I did for the double bass a few years ago), visible in the first photo above. I also got Heinrich's old cloth bag down from the attic for when it needs a dust cover, although I am quite happy with the sweater solution at the moment. The cello is now perfectly playable and beginning to sound quite nice. I'm still playing it in with Suzuki pieces and such like, but am hoping to take it to orchestra and other musical adventures from next week.
In other pirate luthier news, violin number 30 has arrived on the premises with the most beautiful wooden case ever. I'll report on that separately later in the month, with an updated list.
UPDATE 20.10.2026 One year on, this cello now has a case (found on gumtree) and a modern tailpiece with integrated adjusters (because I could use one of the adjusters for a different cello that wasn't worth the investment in a new tailpiece). At one point I stopped playing it because it was buzzing a bit and I couldn't quite figure out why. Left it sitting in the new case for a couple of months, then tried again, and the buzz is gone. So all good now, and I am again playing it reguarly in practice.
NB I've now moved the list of instruments that pass through my pirate luthier workshop to a permanent page which I will update whenever necessary, independent of the blog entries.
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