The weather was merciful for the past two days, and I managed to sit under the pine trees in the garden at dusk under candlelight by myself. As night fell today, the huge protective and healing branches of the silver pine trees towered over me, and my thoughts shifted to both my cello and violin maker.
As string players, it is imperative to know and work with a good violin maker who oversees our instruments' care and well-being. What happens when our instrument needs a great deal of care and attention, like my cello? The latter has gone through such traumatic experiences over the years, all the way from Los Angeles to crossing the Atlantic Ocean, to being declared unrevivable at some point, and losing its neck in a horrible accident. Then I discovered my violin maker, who graciously restored my instrument to its current playable condition. Since my cello's rebirth, my violin maker is undoubtedly on my list of heroes.
However, the instrument, being quite old, is now much more sensitive to weather changes. Until two weeks ago, it was doing very well as I had the soundpost adjusted. Since then, the weather changed drastically, and it is clear to me that the soundpost has moved from its place again. Some of the notes on the D and G strings are not responding very well at the moment. And if I had one wolf tone before, now my D string currently has such tones in abundance.
As I need these in good playing order this week, I have decided to go back to my violin maker, whose reaction I can't wait to see. Last summer, I was there almost every week. I had taken another cello of mine to him, where the new bridge sounded as if the instrument had a cold. Also, I complained to him about the bottom strings being dead or the higher strings not sounding. And during the last visit, he said, "What now?" Of course, I took that in good humor, and I had hoped that I would not need to bother him on such matters ever again.
And the fact that I have to go through so many visits got me thinking if I should consider another instrument in the near future. It sounds simple, but of all the cellos I have tried other than mine in this lifetime, none has convinced me that the sound I imagine in my head and want to produce will resonate on them as I wish.
These are personal issues one must resolve when it comes to owning an instrument; sometimes it is a matter of taste and feeling. As to the latter, the measurements in general vary from instrument to instrument, and this is also something to consider when it comes to cello playing. For example, the second instrument I mentioned above has better spacing than the cello I love. I would have preferred if the spacing of one cello and the sound of the other could be merged. And that reminds me of the imperfections each instrument has and the importance of finding one that meets most of our criteria.
So, in the end, I have to return to my violin maker tomorrow as there is no other choice left.
Are you satisfied with your instrument? If not, what type of issues have you had? Please share in the comments below.
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