Stradivari’s approach to the instruments he manufactured in his final years is often the subject of controversy, as it must inevitably be acknowledged that the old Cremonese master was apparently supported in his efforts by his pupils. The Hill Brothers somewhat reluctantly admitted ‘that Stradivari was at last forced to allow his assistants to take a greater part in the making of the instruments dating between 1725 and the year of his death’, nevertheless, they remarked once more that ‘it is beyond any doubt that, to the last year of his life, he kept on constructing instruments with his own hands’.
More information: Antonio Stradivari Set 1, Volume 4, Page 144