I played the 7/8 yesterday for my entire practise time. It was that good. Usually I get frustrated with the lack of response I expect to get and switch back to my own instrument.

It’s… resonant. A bit less clear on the C string, but that can be adjusted. It has really nice tone colour. There’s a good balance across the four strings, nice response, and did I mention it’s resonant? Holy cow. There were times when it sounded uncannily like my cello. In general it sounded much, much more developed than the last one. At least, it sounded that way from behind the instrument. We’ll see what happens when I cart it to my lesson Friday night.

I kept hitting adjacent strings because the bridge/fingerboard combo is less curved than mine. I initially thought I’d want that increased but then realised that most cellists probably wish it was the other way around in order to use the minimum amount of effort/energy possible in switching strings. It’s even easier to play than the last one in a physical way, too; the action is even sweeter. (The action was pretty much the only thing I liked about the last one.) What I find interesting is that they’re both 2007 instruments, so they’re roughly eighteen months old, and yet this one sounds so much more played-in. Just goes to show how wide a variety you can find within the same model and production year.

I’m looking forward to hearing it played by my teacher. You hear completely different things when you’re sitting in front of the instrument being played than what you hear from behind it.

And now that I’m potentially close to finding The One True 7/8, I’m panicky. I don’t really need to change instruments. I love how my instrument sounds, and I like how it handles. (I may just be used to it; a 7/8 might handle even better once I adjust to it.) What if I switch and it’s a bad decision? (I sell the 7/8 privately and don’t take much of a loss on it because 7/8s are hard to find, or even sell it back to the luthier for not much of a loss.)

I took pictures last night because she’s really, really pretty. I spent more time that I ought to have because I couldn’t really capture the colour correctly. But here’s an idea of what she looks like. The first picture is the standard comparison shot of my 4/4 and the trial 7/8 (standard, ha; I haven’t done this since I brought the first one home last July, but it shows you the colour difference and reminds you of the proportion differences as well; it may not look like much in this tiny pic but click and you’ll see there’s about an inch of difference at the base, a half-inch at the top of the body, and a good inch of the scroll). The second is a full shot of how she looks, and the third is a close-up of her ‘dimples.’ I’ve touched up the last one colour-wise to give you a better idea of her true colour:

I’ve just realised something: I’ve started calling the cello ‘her’ instead of ‘it.’ That’s the first time this has happened. Hmm. This could be dangerous. (Or appropriate. Who knows?)

And now to shift topics entirely: I have realised that I have not yet given any kind of review of my stand mixer. That’s mainly because all I’ve used it for so far is to mix and knead bread dough. It does this very, very well indeed. I am positively in love with how easily the dough slides off the dough hook after the kneading is finished. It mixes and kneads very well, yielding a satiny smooth dough that rises and bakes up nicely. I do miss kneading by hand, but being able to watch the dough hook do it is the next best thing. First of all, it isn’t hidden away like dough inside the bread machine is, so I get to watch it and it’s strangely relaxing. The hook really does a nice job gathering it up and constantly rolling it around. It also doesn’t make an unholy banging noise the way the machine does. I’m also fully in control of how long the kneading process goes on for.

I do like the way the head lifts, and how the different beater attachments go on and off; it’s all very simple and well-thought out. All the attachments and the bowl are super easy to clean, thank goodness. So far I’m very impressed. The only drawback I’ve found so far is that the thing weighs a bloody tonne, and because I don’t have space near an outlet in which to store it, I have to lift it and move it when I want to use it. I only need to move it a couple of feet but the height of the counter robs me of most of my lifting power, and there’s that fibro thing too. I may look for a power bar with an extra-long extension cord for the kitchen.

That’s all from here at the moment.