Up to a certain point this is true. The problem though, is that there is a ceiling for mandolin quality and price that doesn't exist for fiddles.
Leaving aside vintage Loars, you're very near the top end of quality for mandolins by the time you spend $10,000 USD. You can spend up to $20,000 for the most desirable luthier names, but that's about it, unless you go on to collect signed Lloyd Loar F5's.
Fiddle prices just keep going up from there. I play a pretty good mandolin that I paid almost $5,000 for, but my Significant Other paid twice that much for her fiddle, custom made by a local luthier. You don't
have to spend that much on a fiddle, but many do, after getting involved in that scene for long enough. A $10,000 fiddle isn't that unusual even in the local amateur Irish/Scottish trad scene we're both involved in.
And it doesn't end there! It's recommended to spend around half the value of your fiddle on your bow. Our picks cost bupkis by comparison.
Bookmarks