I worked two years as a service rep in a call center for Tracfone (a cheap-o american prepaid cellphone company). It was disgusting. However, I saved a lot and purchased a new piano and a $200 violin, for begginers.
I had to abandon the violin this year as the University is getting demanding as hell.

My viola is worth about $2,500, but it may be worth slightly more now; it's sounds a lot better than when I bought it about 5 months ago. I was very lucky for that one to be my very first viola that I've owned.

I also own a violin (the family violin), and that one I'm not so sure about. The strings are old, but when I play it, the sound is huge (somewhat like my viola, but less ). I had to buy an E-string to replace the old one, and I plan to buy the rest of them when I can afford them.

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"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler

I bought mine for $5000 CA but the sound quality isn't worth that much. I'm shopping for a new violin now and my strings teacher recently brought in an old german fiddle worth 5k but its soun d quality is phenomenal. The sound is on par with some 30k-40k violins!