SVC 50 Silent Cello : As expected: Very Good.

We tried several electronic celli and came to the obvious conclusion: Buy a Yamaha Silent Cello.

That is not so surprising and so I will concentrate on the non-obvious aspects.

The cello comes in a nice gig bag but without a bow (provide your own). At first it looked like it was too bendy to place a bow in the bag without some more protection, but currently we don't worry - just remember to take your bow out first. When you are coming from a solid cello case, that is something to re-learn :)

Two parts, the knee and breast support have to be attached for playing, which takes a short moment, but is really not that complicated. Having that done, playing the cello feels quite natural and when I look down I am always surprised not to see my 'real' instrument.

The strings are good, but I will replace them at some time with something more indivdually fitting, but that is to be expected with any new instrument.

The guitar-style geared tuning pegs fit the modern look and are actually very well made - no additional fine tuning needed.

The electronically produced sound is brilliant as expected with Yamaha's silent instruments.

If you don't want to pay the price for the top range, this is very well worth the price.