Ralphie:"In the golden age of tina making. The craftsmen and women who made the reeds, reed pans, bellows, etc went to whichever company would employ them. Simple economics really. So, comparisons just don't work. I play a Wheatstone, because it's what I've got.
Have I any idea who actually built the various parts? Nope. But the people who made the component parts could well have been applying their skills to Lachenal, Jeffries or whoever the following week".

RE:Some of the manufacture work likely was done at home by workers. I have only seen that tuning jobs were regularly 'home based'. But is there any historic documentation concerning such weekly turnover among craftsmen that you describe?