Percy Heath

haha, it's great to see Mr. Heath on cello! I see that if you handle the double bass, you handle the cello too!

hahaha a cello!

Its probably a custom made cello with bass tuners, which are a lot easier to use than cellos tuners which keep unwinding

Jogi, so you could simply change the mechanics for tuning and then it's antoher instrument? Sorry, I just don't buy that. Please explain it further. Also Percy himself did call it a cello.

No, there are other differences. But you can easily see what it is by looking at the mechanics. Just look at some pictures of celli and you'll see that the mechanics always stand sideways, wheras on a contrabass they look backwards. It's a question of the family to which the instrument belongs. So, I would insist, even against the word of Mr. Heath himself.
But hey, who cares? The interesting thing is what we hear. And what we hear is fantastic!!

It's definitely a 'cello. It just has machine heads instead of pegs... I've seen a couple like that around, and my cello teachers husband (who is a bassist, and a luthier) replaces the pegs with machine heads on his 'cellos.

Basses (Being Viols) are also a completely different shape.

Ok, that's convincing. Thx!

phgp527 - you're so right. There's Ray Brown, NHOP, Pettiford, Vinnegar, Ron Carter, Chambers etc., but Percy Heath is my main man. He's the swinginest with the fat tone, always lagging behind and still in time.

Anybody out there play a cello tuned EADG? If so, please contact me.

I met him like 5 times he was a good friend of my grandma