"Cornerless Italian & Spanish Basses"

[Pino Cazzaniga]

I don't think this is the case,as the back edge was almost fine, but (maybe) some old instruments were played without an endpin, with the back edge on the floor, sometimes with a clog. A Busan bass in the Elgar book has a clog glued on the back, and I saw another one in person. If so, it make sense to move the endbutton towards the top to prevent it from touching the floor. They were not so tall, back then...