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

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

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Mystery – 22 May, 2024

   I waited a few months to write this review. About me: a violinist in pre/teen years. Learning cello, viola, and violin as an adult, 20+ years later.

   Bottom line up front: as a daily, but casual player, I feel confident that it will be many years before I feel the need to upgrade this cello, if ever. I think I will keep it forever because I love it so much.

   I upgraded the strings after about a week. The stock strings were okay, but the Larsen/Helicore combination is very forgiving, and has an excellent tone on this cello. A worthy upgrade. The strings have settled in nicely and I’ve gone more than a month only needing to use fine tuners, but it took about a month of settling / adjusting to get to that point.

   The bow broke, but it fell from a height of 4+ feet, as I wall hang my cello. The bow was a bit light for my liking, though. I ultimately repaired it and use it on my viola, where the weight is great for my playing style.

   The floor stand it comes with isn’t wide enough for me to feel comfortable storing it there, between my roomba and toddler, there would be an accident.

   Contrary to other reviews, the cello DOES pack into the hard case with the bridge on. No issues with the case at all and the cello was received unblemished with sound post in place. Bridge setup was easy, but again I have experience with string instruments.

   I had a buzzing that was more severe than a wolf tone, and it turned out to be the brass rattling on the endpin. Seeing no way to tighten it, I simply wedged a rubber band in the gap where the brass wouldn’t lie flush and broke it off so you can’t see the band. It plays like an absolute dream now.

   I play this everyday. It’s the first thing I do when I wake up. The way this beauty rattles my chest is transcendent. It grounds me, it’s addictive, it makes playing the violin feel like an abusive relationship, haha.

   For the price paid, it’s so worth it. Hope this review helps

2. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   Sam – 27 May, 2024

   I bought this for my daughter who has been playing for 2 years and is now going into high school where she plans on playing for the next 4 years. Prior to purchasing this we rented a cello from a reputable music store. This cello is much better quality than the rental she had been using. Right out of the box it sounded better than the rental. I had her play the same song side by side with her rental and this cello was much deeper and rich sounding. I got a quote to purchase a cello of similar quality from the music store for $1500-$2000, and those were the cheaper models. The build quality of the cello seems really good for the price. Aesthetically the cello is beautiful, the finish is gorgeous, the features set it off nice. The bow is mediocre. The cello came ready to play, we just had to set the bridge.

   Now the negatives. The hard case is not good. The top of the cello was damaged due to inadequate padding that resulted in the inner part of the case clip rubbing against the top of the cello and gouging the wood (See Pic). I’ve read other bad reviews about the hard case so I’m not sure we’ll be using it. I didn’t send the cello back because I didn’t want to risk getting another one with more damage as these are pretty fragile going through shipping. The sound post was set with a very noticeable angle. I’m going to have to take it to a luthier to have it reset. Not really a big deal or unexpected, and I was told it’s pretty cheap to have done.

   Overall I would definitely buy it again. The value in comparison with cellos that cost twice as much, and everything this comes with, makes it and exceptional value. If you upgraded the bow and the strings it would probably be on par with some of the really expensive cellos. I would have given it 5 stars if it hadn’t arrived damaged.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Johnf – 21 June, 2024

   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 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 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.

4. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   Tony Talks – 2 July, 2024

   Too heavy for the instrument probably use wood from the northern part of china

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Tony Talks – 4 August, 2024

   Really fast shipping , Quality of wood is there , sound is perfect for me

6. 

   Rated 1 out of 5

   Mystery – 4 August, 2024

   The Cello looks very nice but arrived broken, the case is fairly flimsy even though it looks like it should be durable in the picture.