Price should vary wildly depending on its quality. These prices I'll be using are Australian dollars. You can probably convert to US or whatever fairly easily, but prices are sometimes less in the US than here in Australia after allowing for conversion.
A 1/4 starts from about A$1000 new for a moderately decent quality instrument. You can get cheaper ones ($600 or $700) which aren't usually as well made or set up properly. Second hand instruments are not as common as you might think, and do lose a lot of value.
You probably will want to factor in some things such as having to buy a new bridge, a set of strings (pirastro are probably fine) and a new bow or rehair (often these options are about the same price, I would get a rehair if you had a bow that was decent quality or by some magical fluke was well balanced, straight and not otherwise damaged). To get an accurate figure on these extras talk to a local shop.
Other things to watch out for: Chinese instruments tend to warp as they're taken from humid climates to drier ones. The fingerboards are often shipped from north India to China and not given the chance to dry out fully before being stuck on. Warping on these tends to be more serious. Warping causes bends or waves in the wood. On the fingerboard, it can bend up or down, or just have small ripples up the fingerboard. The small ripples are not a problem (some warping is pretty common), the issues are when the fingerboard bends up towards the string reducing the space between the string and fingerboard or bends away increasing it. I would not get a cello with either of those problems.
Given a cello with not too many issues, a good bridge, second hand, chinese, only mild warping, you're probably looking at around A$500. If it's from a shop it might be a bit more than that (A$600-900) and if it is particularly good quality it might be more. I have seen well maintained 100 year old french trade cellos that could have sold anywhere from $2000 to $5000 and still been good value. These cellos can fairly easily retain their value if well maintained (I had a yr3 student crush her ancient 1/8th in a terrible school bag accident, it cost the parents $700+ to fix and harmed the cello's value).
Cheap generic bows cost from about $50 to $120, a rehair is about $80. So don't forget to check the condition of the packaged bow and strings before you buy.
You can rent one, try to get Rent-to-own on it, because eventually you will own it. I don't know what the doller - pound ratio is, but my parents are renting me a half size for $44 a month. It's a student cello. You should definately be able to actually buy one that is a fuller size and beter quality than mine, though. My uncle bought his full size new for $8,000, then sold it after ten years or so for $6,000.
Comments
Price should vary wildly depending on its quality. These prices I'll be using are Australian dollars. You can probably convert to US or whatever fairly easily, but prices are sometimes less in the US than here in Australia after allowing for conversion.
A 1/4 starts from about A$1000 new for a moderately decent quality instrument. You can get cheaper ones ($600 or $700) which aren't usually as well made or set up properly. Second hand instruments are not as common as you might think, and do lose a lot of value.
You probably will want to factor in some things such as having to buy a new bridge, a set of strings (pirastro are probably fine) and a new bow or rehair (often these options are about the same price, I would get a rehair if you had a bow that was decent quality or by some magical fluke was well balanced, straight and not otherwise damaged). To get an accurate figure on these extras talk to a local shop.
Other things to watch out for: Chinese instruments tend to warp as they're taken from humid climates to drier ones. The fingerboards are often shipped from north India to China and not given the chance to dry out fully before being stuck on. Warping on these tends to be more serious. Warping causes bends or waves in the wood. On the fingerboard, it can bend up or down, or just have small ripples up the fingerboard. The small ripples are not a problem (some warping is pretty common), the issues are when the fingerboard bends up towards the string reducing the space between the string and fingerboard or bends away increasing it. I would not get a cello with either of those problems.
Given a cello with not too many issues, a good bridge, second hand, chinese, only mild warping, you're probably looking at around A$500. If it's from a shop it might be a bit more than that (A$600-900) and if it is particularly good quality it might be more. I have seen well maintained 100 year old french trade cellos that could have sold anywhere from $2000 to $5000 and still been good value. These cellos can fairly easily retain their value if well maintained (I had a yr3 student crush her ancient 1/8th in a terrible school bag accident, it cost the parents $700+ to fix and harmed the cello's value).
Cheap generic bows cost from about $50 to $120, a rehair is about $80. So don't forget to check the condition of the packaged bow and strings before you buy.
2
Cello Price
You can rent one, try to get Rent-to-own on it, because eventually you will own it. I don't know what the doller - pound ratio is, but my parents are renting me a half size for $44 a month. It's a student cello. You should definately be able to actually buy one that is a fuller size and beter quality than mine, though. My uncle bought his full size new for $8,000, then sold it after ten years or so for $6,000.