Scroll down about 2/3 of the way at Lark and you'll find a new fiddle tailpiece for $15. If the one you have is really "unrepairable" that shouldn't be too hard a fix for the average 9-year old with a pocket knife (you can quote me to your "repairperson.") I'll concede that this one may not be the quality I'd look for if I were patching up a "good" fiddle, but you don't want to spend more on parts than you paid for your instrument. The last time I looked, the fine tuners were about $1.35 each at the highest priced place in my town – although that's been a year or two ago.

Any competent repair person could put a new bridge on, or trim the one you've got – which also cures the "too high strings" and the too wide contact. You should be able to buy your own blank bridge and probably do an acceptable job, with a little "book-larnin'" for about $5.00. (Expect to pay $35 to $50 if you need the confidence of having a professionally installed bridge. There is a significant amount of "fine tuning" to mounting a bridge in the standard way.)

Look for a music store that has "banjo" in the name. You'll get a lot better treatment. The school instrument shops have to impress $$parents$$ with "your kids will meet a better class of people than you if they study music," so they naturally learn to regard all customers as "slobs trying to buy into high society." (Who, me? …. Exaggerate?...)

I know a number of people who play, or have played, $150 fiddles. (I have one, but we won't talk about the playing part.) Some of them are quite good, and I don't know of any who've blamed the fiddle for any troubles they've had. Several of them have moved on to better instruments, but once you know the market even a decent "move up" instrument seldom needs to cost you more than $400-$600, unless you're really into serious, professional use, or you just really learn to love the little monsters.

John