Re: Question about corner blocks

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
says...
> Is the absence of corner block ever an indication of a cheap violin? I've
> heard that sometimes the early makers would make violins with no upper
> corner blocks or even with no corner blocks at all. I have a very old violin
> that is beautifully carved with choice maple, a fine grained spruce top that
> has been graduated, stakes in the back, evidence of professional repairs,
> etc. and yet there are no upper corner blocks. Could someone illuminate me
> on this subject.
> 
> TIA -Saul
> 
> 
> 
        I don't know about older instruments, but in about 1973 in Mrs 
Hutchings Catgut Acoustical Society classes we had a manufacturer from 
Germany demonstrate building a fiddle without corner block in an outside 
mould,  a solid milled block of aluminium jig plate 30 mm think *into 
which*  the ribs were pressed, glued and clamped with hydralically 
operated cauls under heat.  This is utterly backwards from the classic 
meathod of bending around an inside mould.  Production could be very 
high, (dozens a day) with the quality dependant on the choice of wood 
and skill of the operator