My Sick Cello

During our last trip, my cello developed a persistent buzz and by the time we came home, it was a a real rumble! I took it to Emmanuel Gradoux-Matt at Renee Morel's shop in NYC, my cello doctor, and the news was bad. Certain cracks that the instrument has had since I bought it had opened up, leaving the top (front) of the cello very unstable.

Emily and I both have the great luxury of owning and playing beautiful antique instruments. Both are French - her violin a Lupot from 1795, and my cello a Vuillaume from 1849. Because our instruments are so old we worry about them semi-constantly, trying to keep them humidified so the wood doesn't crack, buying an extra seat for the cello on airplanes so that it won't get crushed by big suitcases in the bagage compartment, and taking them with us everywhere! But all the travelling we do and all of the different climates are very hard on them.

Emmanuel was worried that if I took my cello on our next tour, the cracks would get worse. He wanted to take apart the instrument and repair the cracks right away. This will take a number of weeks of painstaking work.

It is frightening to see my cello opened up like this - any time you do repairs this significant the instrument is almost guaranteed to sound different when it's put back together. It could sound better, but it could be worse. I'll just have to trust the pros and keep my fingers crossed....