<p>mezzo –</p>
<ol>
<li><p>String instruments are more expensive than flutes - even gold ones!</p></li>
<li><p>Often it is the oldest used string instrument which sounds the most beautiful (e.g., stradavarius, guarnieri) and fetch the highest prices. Unfortunately, the term “used” really doesn’t apply to string instruments. A decent new or used violin or viola, with rare exceptions, like Violadad’s son’s, will start at around $10,000. I don’t know the cello market as well, but I imagine it’s about the same. String playing is an expensive habit! Strings, sound posts, bridges, etc. must be replaced/repaired regularly and are not cheap either. Oh well, luckily we love the sound!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Our local violin shop loaned my son a really fabulous and very expensive instrument for a couple of months last year. After that, he wanted a new violin. We looked very hard last spring/summer. He tried a lot of violins and the only ones he liked better than his $20,000 one were way too expensive for us ($75K-$100K). Those violins were definitely in a different category in terms of sound production, smootheness across the strings, etc. The ones in between didn’t seem to make that much difference - the prices seemed to be in the maker’s names more than in the sound until you were spending a ton. He’s still unsatisfied with his so we’ll be looking again this summer, but it’s a real hunt. I wish we could find a great Chinese one like Violadad’s son’s - then we could pay some tuition with the difference. He might have to wait to have an income (we hope!) to get a new one that he likes. He does say that his violin is about average price for a conservatory student. A few have very fancy ones, but most don’t.</p>