Hello all

I've been a bass guitarist for the last 25 years, but took up the 'cello two years ago. After spending most of that two years teaching myself, I finally saw sense and have started lessons with a proper teacher. All is going well and I'm loving the instrument, happily working through the prelude of the first Bach cello suite

I recently had my cello set up properly by a luthier. It's a relatively inexpensive beginner's cello (a Primavera 100). After the set up, it sounds a million times better than it did before; lots more resonance and ring coming from it now :-)

There is a slight problem though. The luthier has re-positioned the soundpost and has moved the bridge; he's moved it about three quarters of an inch nearer to the tailpiece than it was before (it was level with the F hole notches before)

Like I said, it sounds great now but my intonation is now well out because the string length has increased, due to the moving of the bridge. The notes have in effect all shifted slightly further down the fingerboard, basically and i'm having to stretch a bit more. For example, the first G of "The Swan" is about 13mm away from where it was before. I asked the luthier about this and he said I'd just have to get used to the new finger positions, saying he'd done what he had done in order to optimise the sound.

It's fair enough, but I just feel like two year's hard work learning the fingerboard positions has been lost now :-( I can surely adapt over time to this shift in the note positions, but what if I get a new cello and then have to adapt all over again?

I just wanted to get some opinions on this issue...

1. Real cello repairmen don't go around calling themselves "luthiers".

2. It's "as I said", not "like I said".

3. The placement of the bridge and the soundpost are standardized; you can't just move them about as you see fit.

4. The term "set up" is a thing you hear in respect to the electric guitar. I never heard of a cello being "set up".

Sigh.....

1. I've heard them called "luthiers" far more than "cello repair men."

2. I didn't realise that having perfect grammar was a prerequisite of posting in this forum.

3. The person dealing with my cello is a well respected, time served professional and has clients from orchestras all over the world. I think he knows what he's doing.

4. The term "set up" is indeed used when referring to string instruments

Have I awakened the resident troll of the 8 notes forum? It certainly feels like it.

Hopefully I'll get some more constructive comments from other users...

If you have absolute trust in this guy, as you seem to suggest, then why the hell are you asking about what he did? It seems to me either that 1) your bridge was in the wrong place to begin with or 2) he doesn't know he's doing. If it's 1) then, yes, a lot of your practice (but not all) was wasted, but at least you won't have to relearn again. If it's 2) you need to take your cello elsewhere.

Your bridge should be aligned with the notches in your F holes, by the way.