Fully carved from solid woods throughout. Exquisite flaming with a nice satin sheen finish. All of the fittings are real ebony wood [not ebonite] and the fingerboard is planed straight and true. The maple back is nicely flamed and the sides are mildly flamed. A very nice beginning to intermediate instrument. This little cello has a nice sound and it will improve greatly with some play time. This is my economy 1/4 cello, but I have set it up with a custom string set and upgraded the tailpiece to a 'real' composite Whittner, not the Chinese copy, so the fine tuners are actually usable. It is also shop adjusted and ready to go.