james,
UH OH!
1. My cello has a huge crack down its side
--How big?
2. the front panel is starting to split and come away
--Say what??????
3. the varnish is flaking off
--Cheap varnish, normal cello varnish never flakes off.
4. -If it is me how can I stop the squeaky noise?
--you`ll never really know until yoiu play a good sounding cello.
5. if its the cello should i fix it up or buy a new one
--It`s too expensive to have a professional fix it, so either fix it yourself or buy a good one (preferably in person).
You need to be more specific. Like on my cello
(which isn`t to pretty either...),
1. On the left upper side of the A string (as in when your sitting down with the cello in playing position and looking at it from the back), it has THREE STRESS CRACKS
2. On the middle left side of the A, it has a patched up HOLE
3. On the lower left side of the A, it has one patched up HOLE and TWO STRESS CRACKS
4. On the lower right side of the C, it has SIX STRESS CRACKS
5. On the middle right side of the C, it has TWO STRESS CRACKS
6. On the upper right side of the C, it has THREE STRESS CRACKS
7. On the front side of the cello where the bridge sets, there is
ONE STRESS CRACK to the left of the bridge about one cm on the side of the A-string, ONE STRESS CRACK to the right of the bridge and one open seem towards the bottom (when the front of the cello starts to diss-attach from the sides).
-1 through 6 is no big deal for an old 150ish year old cello because stress cracks occur naturally with old cellos but the only thing you have to worry about is the front side of the cello. I came 2cm short of having a dead cello from someone a hundred years ago putting in the sound post in wrong. However when my dad and I fixed my cello (sanded, revarnished and mainly closed the open seem) it went from buzzing and vibrating like a $150 cello to a mello, rich sounding $15,000+ cello.
