I wonder what you would make of this thread if you were part of its audience rather than the protagonist. As a member of the audience, all I see is a tragedy based on the fatal flaws of two people: a dishonest artisan and an unworldly customer. At best, you will get an adequate bass that you should have had many years ago, either from the builder or using money recovered from the builder.
If you want a different story, perhaps you simply need to understand that you can only change the behaviour of one of the two characters.