I`m not familiar with types of wood but I believe it`s definitely a hardwood such as ash. Definitely not very aged, tell you that much. But gets a fairly good tone considering.

The bow is plastic, and this could be responsible for my problem. I somehow doubt the authenticity of the horsehair as well but I could be wrong. I suppose it would be ideal to purchase a wooden, more professionally balanced bow...

The D string has no visible evidence of wear; the tone is just inconsistend with the other strings, particularly evident during bowing. It also feels a bet rough on most of the length between the fingerboard and the bridge.

Ian,

Once I put rozin on a cello bow and the bow broke in half. The bow was new and it broke in half because it was plastic. Plastic bows are weak. Wooden bows will always be better than plastic. I dont know what to tell you with the D-string but but get an other one and see if it makes the same sound. If it does make the same bad sound then it might be the cello.

with strings try not to get crappy ones like redline get better ones like jargar(that is what i use0

Don`t use cheap rosin either. It kills the sound as well as your cello.
In your book does it say what muscles to use when bowing the cello? Maybe your bow hold is perfect but you use the wrong muscles.

Hey, update. I`m still playing now and found out that my action was WAY too high, the bridge was enormous on that cello. I`m not playing a different school one and a different bow. Also I found that my rosin wasn`t really getting on the hair that much at all, since it wasn`t broken/scratched, I did not know this needed to be done!

Anyhow I`m getting much better results now. I played the first chair player`s cello at my school and thought WOW, this is SO easy. His strings went down like nothing, so close to the fingerboard compared to my old one. So I quickly got set up with a new cello and new bridge. This one also has a much more resonant sound; the action is still a tad high comparatively, but nothing like the monstrous action I had on the old one. We discovered that the warped neck combined with very high bridge was responsible for the strings being very hard to push down.

Things are going well now, I`m doing better in my school orchestra than a lot of the kids who have been playing for several years; in addition to daily rehearsal I practice in school and take my cello home on the weekends... saxophones are still my primary instrument and I`m going to major on them, but I`m definitely glad I took up this instrument.

This is a prime example of poor equipment/teaching discouraging a beginner. I feel I`ve had a breakthrough since being set up with the new cello... now just to get a good bow ^_^

what brand did you end up with?
i`m trying to decide on what to buy

Check yr position, esp. yr elbow and arm. dun hold yr arm weight on yr upper arm, hang them naturally on the elbows. It`s not unusual to feel tired...but just check with a fellow cellist on that to be safe that all yr postures are correct.Bow and let him check. Regerding the higher position notes..I really dun think u should be playing them until yr more advanced. Caz they are really not easy, only more advanced players will be able to play all way there. And the `harmonics` sound...are u sure yr bow is going straight. If it sure is, then check the way u set in the bow. I dun think it has gotta do with yr strings.

Well no, it certainly was the strings. I got a new A and G string and things sound better now. There was also some kind of weird thing on the bridge at the end of the A string that a cello teacher told me was NOT supposed to be there, and was responsible for the raspy sound.

Right now I`m working on the part for Holst`s "Jupiter" which our school orchestra is doing. Very difficult, but very fun! That thumb position is certainly a lot of fun, and those tenor clefs, woo. And yes I`ve worked some on arm position and all, and I`m told by many players/teachers that my technique is very solid, but my left hand is working very hard to deal with the higher action (the cello teacher picked up my cello and could barely play it, she was so used to low action).

uhhhh if you are having trouble with the sound quality, It may be because the quality of your rosin is not good or you are not ptting enough on.
in am 13 and have been playing for eight years and i still get sore sometimes
but you get used to it after a while. My advice is keep at it then you`ll get used to the pain.

for the soreness i sugest laying down the whole finger on the neck of your cello.you might als want to do finger excersises.