Dennis,
Nice work, Dennis.
I can comment on what an "apprentice" for Faliero might encounter, since that's the position I was in when I was hired at Masi, Carlsbad. My first job was building wheels. Faliero taught me his method (he would accept no other) and I built wheels for my first two weeks. I built 200 wheels. I learned from him what he wanted without the benifit of language between us for most of the instruction. The only words he used were the Italian words for "like this". I think this is the stage where the "master" sizes up the "student". Based on how the grasshopper performs; they are either let go or led to the next task. My next task was to file front dropouts that were brazed to fork blades. There are about 200 fork blades lined up in the worktable. You have a vice mounted on one end. They, in this case Mario, show you how to file one to their standards. They leave the "sample" part there and leave you for about an hour while you start in. When the "teacher" comes back he looks at the parts you've done and either approves or shows you how to improve your work. I files about 8 tips by the time Mario came back to check on me. There were nine parts lying there. Mario picked each one up and gave it a look. Went through all of them and found one that wasn't quite like the others. He said (in Italian) "no good". I looked at him somewhat unsure what to say. He was holding the sample he left for me. I was very young at the time and I should have kept my mouth shut, but I mentioned that was the sample. Mario wasn't amused. I had never filed anything before in my life but that task is very simple. Not much harm could have been done if I wasn't cutting it but I was good enough out of the gate. By the time the week was over, the entire time spent filing front dropouts, I was an "expert" at that. I graduated to more difficult tasks each time I completed my previous assignments. I cut and mitered seat stays for the caps and filed them after the caps were brazed on. I was shown how to shape lugs in preparation for fitting to frames. I did a small amount of brazing, again starting with something simple like brazing the front dropouts to forkblades. Within several months and I had become very profecient at a number of framebuilding tasks. I think they normally avoid doing that because they don't want anyone to learn too much, but I was only the 4th American hired (one was already gone) and there weren't enough people to do all of the taske so I was fortunate to have been put on a lot of jobs. Eventually I was assigned to assist the painter and I picked up the "other half" of my building/painting skills. I think I was the most fortunate Masi employee to ever pass through there. Faliero was there and I got more tasks than pretty much anyone with the possible exception of the original painter. Properly supervised assistants can aid the master and the work would probably be undetectable from the master to the student on most tasks. A few things might take a little longer to learn but under supervision all things are easy. Framebuilding isn't brain surgery.........it's actually much harder ;-). Tasks like mitering tubes is a simple matter of sticking the tubes in the mitering machine and running them through at the right speed. How hard is that? Even the titmouse that lives in the corner of the shop could do that chore once it's set up. I would imagine mitering tubes by hand, which does require some skill, probably fell by the wayside at Masi in the 50's sometime. Who miters the tubes in a situation like Masi, Carlsbad is a non-issue. That's probably someone who can't do much else. Frames built with good help are not diminished in quality, there are just more of them. That's business and it works.
Distractions don't bother me, they just slow down the process. I only work when I am in peak form, which is most of the time. If I don't feel like working I don't work. I work whem I'm inspired and motivated. My output reflects this. Painting requires the same state of mind but I'm more sensetive about the right conditions since I don't back up on a paint job. It goes through one time, so I wait for conditions that pretty much assure success on the job at hand.
In the case of this 1954 track frame, I believe we're at the point where we are trying to determine wheather Faliero, assisted or not, built this frame as opposed to one of the subcontract builders. I still feel Faliero built that frame and by the expanded deffinitaion I don't see how we can dispute this. Yes, clarification is still due, but the statment that the intent of the letter meant the the "firm" of Masi built that frame is probably an incorrect translation of the letter. I believe the letter means what it says, Faliero built that frame.
BTW, I think the BB shell shown on the bike in question is not a Fischer sand casting. No one was painstakingly prep filing that shell. Another interesting piece of information; the Fischer sand cast shells used at Carlsbad and in Italy were NOT filed smooth before they were brazed to frames. They were profiled, I did some of that myself, but they were filed smooth by the guys filing the lugs and BB shell, etc. after the frame was brazed together. Imagine that! I finish them before fitting to a frame, when I use those. Takes me about 2 hours to get them the way I like.
I completely understand your statment regarding the student surpassing the master. Never had an apprentice myself, but I was one once.
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA
>
> I am curious if people draw the conclusion that frames made in part by
> 'employees' are predictably inferior in quality than those done by the
> 'master'? Aside from the 'romance' of the total job done by the name on the
> tube, is it a quality concern? If that is a yes, then I suggest that it can
> be rather difficult to draw inferences purely on the face of the matter. A
> total'one man' operation in some ways may seem ideal from the outsider's
> perspective, but bear in mind that the one guy may be a master at his trade,
> but that trade also consists of fetching the parts, meeting with customers,
> maintaining the tools, answering the phone (nowadays), cleaning the toilet,
> going to the bank, clearing up the mess, reading the mail, sweeping up the
> joint, dealing with people who think your shop is a clubhouse, etc, etc,
> etc. There are a lot of distractions from the actual act of making the item
> that he is recognized for, which for experienced tradesmen, can be one of
> the easiest parts of the whole equation. Some days are spent working just
> so you can 'get back to work'. Distractions and time away from the actual
> making part are not conducive to produceing the best work. Frame making
> being a manual trade like mine (furniture making), probably the skill level
> on any given day depends on your physical orientation and concentration.
> Too much time away from the bench and the quality and speed starts to slip a
> notch until you can bring it back up to snuff. (Not a long time for old
> pros!) The point is, compare this schedule with a employee who is only
> thinking about his assigned task, (and maybe the pint he is having after
> work with his mates!). Day after day of only doing that, and someone with
> talent and initiative, after some years it sometimes can be difficult to
> judge who is really better at it. Obviously it depends on the degree of
> difficulty and experience, but given the right attitude and level of skill,
> a combined effort can certainly yield masterful results. If this is the
> case, does it really matter if the name on the tube did the whole deal? The
> bottom line is whether the total work meets the master`s standards. In some
> instances, what most differentiates the master from the worker is his level
> of total experience as applied to unusual jobs requireing unusual techniques
> or concepts.
>
> In my trade I have built handmade furniture for presidents and movie moguls,
> and people living in tract houses. Mostly I have worked alone, but I have
> had a few apprentices while working in the US. A skilled craftsman who runs
> a business knows to what extent the hired worker`s level of skill can meet
> his demands. Those who can`t meet the mark can be given the mundane tasks,
> or other initial jobs that the master can then carry through to completion.
> It is a old old practice, even amongst some of the finest and most reputed
> artisans. It speeds up the work! There is nothing quality lowering about
> it, nor 'mojo' compromising I believe. On the contrary, it further allows
> the master to concentrate on those tasks that only he can attend to. The
> person who signs his name to the work is proud to represent the combined
> effort of a diligent crew.....and shhhhhhhh, a little known secret, some
> apprentices get to be better at doing some things than their masters. I had
> one like that once.
>
> I'm not a frame maker. Hope I got it right!
>
> Dennis, still have to pay US taxes, Young
> Hotaka, Japan
>
> > i agree with you. but 1979 was my first trip to italy,
> > not the first time the light went on. even when i was
> > in london at witcomb lightweight cycles (71-72), the
> > notion of the 'one-man' shop was an anomaly. there
> > were few if any such examples of this enterprise. for
> > instance, prior to arriving there, i wanted to work for
> > mr. hurlow, but couldn't, because he already had younger
> > members of his thanet road club doing some of the work
> > i hoped to learn about. when i was actually in london,
> > i 'heard' similar tales about ron cooper, another archtypical
> > one-man shop. i.e. i cannot recall-i do not know of-any
> > one-man shops from that era. this all ties in with this a.m.'s
> > thread about the word 'built' when describing how 'he actually
> > built' the frame. my intuiton is that there was always 'someone
> > else' doing at least some of the work at the so called
> > one-man shops, regardless of how menial the task was. thus,
> > though i am as curious about all this as are others, i still think
> > that being a framebuilder in those past eras did not always
> > mean that you built the frame.
> > fwiw, i still would like to know what folks think about
> > this 'division of labor' topic because feel it's central to
> > the thread regarding the letter of authenticity.