When I visited Mittenwald (breathtakingly beautiful, by the way), I was told by Gunter Krahmer that the home-working of violin-family instrument parts occurred as farmers had little to do in the winters, and needed to bring in extra cash. There were similar arrangements in other businesses, such as textiles. I'm often pleasantly taken by the quality of the work done by these home-workers and the shops that assembled and finished the instruments. I'm sure many of these farmers passed considerable skills down from generation to generation. There is no way to compare the skill level of someone who learns by doing to one learning only in a school environment.
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