Cecilio CCO-600 Ebony Fitted Hand Oil-Rubbed Highly Flamed Solid Wood Cello, Size 4/4 (Full Size)

As I received both the CCO-500 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 wood used has 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 to 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 wrapand 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 was perfect 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 would 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.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.

My wife gave this to me for my 60th birthday today. There was no packing material in the box. The case was badly damaged. There was no bow included. There is a piece of wood floating around in the instrument. The overall quality of the instrument is very poor. It's slapped together. If you spend this much money for a guitar it would be perfect. This is a very cheaply made cello with many quality flaws. There is no quality control based on this cello. I don't know how they make any money with all of the returns due to the fact that they don't care whether the instruments arrive in one piece. I wish my wife had read the reviews. But for this price she shouldn't have had to. It was very embarrasing for me and my wife to have me open this in front of the kids.

I must have a thing for cheap musical instruments and I decided to roll the dice on this one. I've been very pleasantly surprised at what a great deal this is, which is why I'll give it five stars. I'm a "learning cellist" at an intermediate level and have one student cello already which I enjoy and is fine for my level of playing, but I was curious about this one. The maker and seller must have taken the reports of damage in transit to heart, because mine was very heavily wrapped in all kinds of bubble wrap and foam protection. To my relief the sound post was placed correctly and standing securely. Honestly, the cello itself is beautiful, again considering the price. Mine is sort of a "blonde" color and (to me) surprisingly lightweight, probably due to the better finish than what you'd usually find at this price point. The back and ribs are genuinely flamed maple, while the front does have tight grain in the center which widens toward the edges. There are little imperfections and blemishes here and there, which are fine and indicates hand-working, I suppose. Mine has a pretty strong wolf tone at F#, especially on the G string...which is actually an indicator that the cello is properly made. However the nut on mine I think could've been cut better and at some point down the line I will probably have to have it adjusted or replaced. The included case is certainly not top-of-the-line but much, much better than what you'd usually get in a kit at this price.A couple of things to keep in mind for those considering buying this: firstly, you're going to have to spend a little more to have this thing properly set up. The feet of the Belgian-type bridge which came with mine fit the cello perfectly, but the bridge is actually too high, resulting in a string height of nearly an inch above the fingerboard all the way across. I replaced that one with a French bridge which I prefer and now the string height is standard. Secondly, you'll have to have some good strings and not the stock strings that come with the cello. I put Thomastik-Infeld Versums on mine, and the sound is very rich and resonant. I love playing this thing. The included traditional ebony tailpiece is fine, and I keep it on hand in case I want to experiment with gut strings later, but I replaced it for now with an Akusticus tailpiece. All in all I'd recommend this for student cellists like myself.