The What // 01
The violin to the lower right is worth $10,000. The one above it is worth $200. The bows respectively are $2000 and $25. Most of the value difference is how the instrument and bow can sound together. As with wine tasting, differences are best appreciated when compared side by side.
In commercial application, the two to the left would be thrown away since the labor costs of repair exceeds value of the instrument, or sadly they will make their way into the non-profit music world. Instruments and particularly bows donated and then deployed when in disrepair are not helpful. They are in fact recipes for student frustration and personal defeat. While a 10 year old can recognize a deflated soccer ball, often he or she cannot tell the equivalent lack of functionality in a musical instrument. Our task at StringWizards is to seek out these instrument, properly restore them, and see that they are given to well managed non-profit music schools working with underserved populations.