I live with a much respected professional fiddler. The three fiddles that she regularly uses cost (as far as I can remember) £10, £15 and £35. Stradivarius they ain't, but the audiences never seem to walk out in disgust. Joe Venuti always played cheap fiddles out of junk shops: he didn't get a lot of complaints either.As the previous poster said: it's the way you play'em.