Bodacious Cowboy

The rational path from adequate to excellent is the skill of the player.

Most well-made instruments from well-established patterns and decent materials are perfectly adequate for professional player use. Everything else is smoke and mirrors.

was this in a double blind test?

What ethical issues are involved in buying Chinese-made musical instruments? Are they in a different ethical category than iPhones and MacBooks?

But I think a potential buyer would be unwise to assume that quality of work is directly proportional to price...

Nope.

It absolutely does cause the back to vibrate. But also what David said.

Pre-application wipe down of the spruce eliminates blotchiness, pretty much. Mineral spirits can be used in place of water if you want to avoid raising the grain.

Yes, this is the measurement you need to make. But most importantly, don't automatically think that a neck reset or lift is needed if it's not exactly the "textbook" 27 mm. The fiddle could be working just fine up to a couple mm or so either side of that.

But the soundpost is so fundamental to the acoustic performance of a violin that even if the original intention were entirely structural support, wouldn't it very quickly become apparent that there was an acoustic enhancement also? Is it relevant that the latter might have originated as a serendipitous "side effect"?

My experience is that the spiral being in the wrong direction makes the reamer hard to control compared with a straight flute one. As far as I know, all commercially available spiral reamers are like this. Heaven knows why. The only ones I've seen with the spiral in the right direction were custom made by Mark Jackson in the UK. Ditto

The effect on the arching is minuscule, if any. But by the same reasoning, doesn't the "NY reset" affect the back arching? Something has to bend.

You're a smart guy. Think about it.

Yes it can and does. Try it. It works.

Yes. Pretty much as DB said, but I've found more scope for adjustment by opening the top seam completely, except at the neck and tail blocks. I also agree with you about the option of doing nothing.