as far as the string thing goes if the string did cost 50-60 bucks or so...which it could $20 for his labor aint bad....now $50-$60 for a string and the total comes to $125......yea i would have told him to take the thing off and use it hang junk up on in his shop that i wouldnt return to...thats flat out BS there....some shop owners know if they have the market covered in their area...wrong maybe but if thats your only choice not a lot you can do...but i would possibly look into seeing if there is another shop around in the next town or something even if its a little further to go it might be worth it in the end if they are easy to deal with