What’s in my Case | Adult Cello
Today I want to do my own version of those “what’s in my case videos” you see from string players on Youtube.
I’m going to include my cello bag here as well; I tend to keep most of my items in there because I worry about over-stuffing the pouch in my case and then hitting a pot hole and having it all dump out and damage my instrument’s varnish.
So let’s dive right in, I’ll tell you what I have and maybe add a helpful tip or two for each item as we go.
So let’s start with the case itself. I use a Brack case.
I’ve had cases by other brands like Bam and Eastman, this is by far my favorite case.
It’s a Swiss company and the maker apparently has experience making canoes. I mention this because the way the case seals seems to me to be the most water tight of any brand I’ve seen.
It also has a layer of thermal protection on the inside that I actually think works pretty well, and I love the neck cradle because it seems to keep my cello really snug and centered.
Finally, it’s just made really well; all the latches and velcro are still perfect going on 6 years now.
Moving right along, my primary cello was made by David Folland out in Minnesota in 2018 and I’m a big fan of it.
When I was cello hunting, I tried many, many cellos both older and contemporary in my price range and this one stood out as having a really thick, rich ribbon of sound and not being mercurial or tricky to play.
My primary bow is by the French maker Claude Thomassin,
I feel very fortunate to get to play on it. It has a very smooth, buttery sound that compliments my cello well.
My backup bow is by the German maker/manufacturer/family Gotz.
So regarding bows my advice would be to always have a backup bow ready if you’re at the point where you’re playing in ensembles or in chamber music groups, and especially if you’re doing any sort of gigging, even playing a friend’s wedding for free.
Little mechanical issues such as a stripped eyelid inside the frog can instantly render a bow unusable until it’s fixed, and you do not want to be stuck somewhere without a bow!
Also inside my case is my stretto humidifier.
My basic rule of thumb is to aim for around 50% humidity since that’s the general consensus for what’s optimal for most instruments. Here in LA it tends to be on the drier side (the last few days had a humidity of 15%!!) so I often use this stretto to give my cello a little hydration while it’s resting in the case.
Finally, let’s dive into the little pouch in my Brack case.
So in here I keep ONE set of extra strings. In the past, I used to add strings to the pouch every time I changed strings; I would just add them to the collection…but then I ended up with this horrific rat’s nest of mixed up strings.
I never knew how old any one particular string was or how much life it had left in it.
Not fun.
So now I simply have one set of spare strings that have been lightly used.
You want them to be used because then they have already stretched out after that initial break in period and will be ready to hold their pitch in an emergency. No more Russian roulette picking one string out of a chaotic ball of options.
For my particular instrument, I have been bouncing back and forth between the string brand Rostanvo and the Perpetual Soloist set by Pirastro.
Currently I have the Perpetuals on. They have a dark, deep, gravelly timbre that I like on my instrument, and I really like the amount tension the strings have, not too stiff and not too soft.
I also really enjoy the Rostanvo strings, although to me they are wildly different in timbre.
While the Perpetuals and deep and darker in sound, I found the Rostanvos bright and rich, almost fruity like a type of aural schnapps.
The next step in my experimentation will probably be trying a combination of A and D Rostanvo and G and C Perpetual.
Also in my case’s pouch is a posture peg tuning key. This is for my C string peg. I have another one of these in my bag and I keep two on me because if I don’t have one, then I can’t tune my C string peg if it slips for example.
So this extra tuning peg stays in here just in case.
And I have an emergency cloth in case I forget to put one in my bag and I need to clean something off of my cello.
I should mention one other thing I do whenever I have to play outdoor somewhere that’s super dry, like a wedding in the California desert.
For those times I’ll also use dampit humidifiers to protect my cello from a shocking change in humidity, but I always worry about them leaking and dripping inside my cello, so what I do is prepare them at home, then stick them in a plastic ziplock bag and insert them on site just before using the cello.
Then I remove them after the gig and put them back in the ziplock bag so that they aren’t possibly dripping water into my cello on the ride home.
Okay, so now let’s check out what’s in my cello bag.
So, less interesting items quickly. I have a pen, two pencils for marking parts (for a treat, get yourself a great pencil like Palomino!), and some nail clippers, which I think is a must.
This is also where I’ll have any music that I’m currently working on, though lately I usually just upload everything onto my iPad and use that.
I also have two cloths, one for cleaning off my strings and one for cleaning off the body of cello after I practice.
I recommend using two different cloths because otherwise you run the risk of polishing extra rosin into the body of your cello (which I totally used to do before I realized what I was doing).
Okay now I’ll mention something very important - my custom fit hearing protection.
If you are spending any time in an orchestra pit for musicals or operas, or you play with your local church right next to brass instruments or electric guitar or drums, you want to have these ready.
Custom fit is probably the best although it is a bit of an investment; it’s the most comfortable and I can control how much sound I attenuate with little disk inserts.
I have disks that attenuate 9 decibels, 15 decibels, or 25 decibels across the board.
Whatever you decide to use, please have some kind of ear protection that still allows you to hear your own sound.
99% of the time it’s not a big deal, but for that 1% when it’s just dangerously loud, you want to be ready to protect yourself. I wouldn’t dream of leaving these at home if I’m taking my cello to play anywhere.
Next is my mini bag of mutes and accessories.
In here I have a wood mute, a leather mute, a regular rubber mute, another posture peg key, and extra rosin. As a rule of thumb, I would make sure you have a mute with you anytime you’re leaving the house to play in any kind of ensemble, as sometimes they will be specifically called for in the music.
And I also have my rosin, of course.
I use Baker’s rosin, my wife was smart enough to sign up on their wait list years ago, so we both use it these days. I like it because I feel plenty of grip but, to me, the tone is noticeably smoother than with many of the other rosins I tried.
You can check out my recent video on Rosin if you want to hear more about the topic or if you just want to hear some of my embarrassing rosin stories before I knew what I was doing.
And that about sums it up. I hope that helps, and if you have any questions at all, feel free to email me at billy@adultcello.com!
