Hi everyone. I just got today a cello, i'm mostly a bass player (play guitar and piano as well) and i decided to take up on this, i traded one of my bass guitars for a cello and got it today, i was aware that it didn't have one of the strings but when i got home and checked it out it seems to have something inside of it as if something gotten loose, and it seems to be moving and rolling around the cello if i move it, is that normal?

Besides from that, i'm starting from 0, so if you could guide me on some tutorials and tips on cheap strings i would really apreciate it, i don't even know the brand or anything of the cello, all i know is the guy orderded online a violin and got this instead.

Hope you guys can help out, thanks.

Hi there!
I'm not an expert, but it is definitely not a good sign, if something is rolling around inside the body. Just try to "remove" it through the f-holes. Parallell look into the cellos body through the f hole on the side of the A string. If You can not see a little wooden stick somewhere around below the bridge, then the thing moving around is probably the sound post. In this case, You should immediately loosen the strings, otherwise, the front of cello can brake under the pressure. After that, bring Your instrument to a specialist. Putting back the sound post is a simple and cheap procedure, but You really shouldn't try it.

If the sound post is on its place, and something other is moving around, it is a better situation, most probably You can just remove it through the f-hole.

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One more thing: in the second case, put a picture here of the removed stuff. Maybe it is a broken part of the tailpin or something, that is important.

And sorry, I forgot to answer Your other question. If You want to buy the missing string, well, I don't know too much about the brands either. And cheap means everywhere something different. What I can tell You is, that I'm learning for 1.5 year now, and my teacher suggested to buy a bluea Jargar set. One string is usually around $20 on ebay. She told me, that this strings even fit to professionals for practice. If it is considered to be cheap for You, I think it really is a nice one. I have a very cheap cello from China, and changing the srings made a lot of difference on the sound.

Well, seems like it is the soundpost, good thing is the strings were already loose, i'll take it to get fixed on the week. Thanks a lot.

Probably the loosen strings are the reason, why the soundpost started to move :-) Anyway, have a good luck with it, and enjoy playing the cello!