His father's untimely death, in fact, urged the boy to look for a job; he applied to a violinmaker whose workshop was very near his father's bakery. Fate or good luck made things easy, as a friend, Vincenzo Ruggeri, was just looking for someone to train in his craftmanship, in order to substitute him once he had grown too old to continue his workshop activity. The period of Bergonzi's greatest activity takes place in a short span of time, between 1732 and 1738. An important difference between Carlo and the other violinmakers in town is the rarity of his instruments; therefore, it can be easily inferred that violinmaking could not possibly represent for Bergonzi his only source of income. This claim, however, is in sharp contrast with the undoubted artistic excellence of his works, which would reasonably refer to a full time actvity of high aesthetic depth. At this point, it is logical to solve the apparent contradiction by assuming that Carlo also worked at other violinmaking workshops in Cremona. Regardless of the precise nature of his cooperation, Bergonzi especially distinguished himself for his unquestionable carving skills, which can be admired in the beautiful scrolls of his first production. It is almost certain that Carlo met the renowned Antonio Stradivari where he would have loved to have worked with him in his workshop, where Antonio, by that time quite old, used to work with his two sons. The two artists may have got in touch before 1720, as starting from that date some of Carlo's stylistic influences are visible in some instruments by Stradivari, in particular cellos. Also Bergonzi's individual production increased noticeably, both in terms of quantity and quality, thus contributing to convey his instruments a distinctive stylistic mark, easily recognizable by experts. The Cremonese craftman's instruments that are not only acknowledged as absolute masterpieces for their aesthetic value, but they are also renowned for their acoustic quality which refers directly to the greatest violinmaker's influence on Carlo Bergonzi's output. The type of foreign imported wood privileged by Carlo conveys a further mark of originality to his instruments, made up of maple bottoms. His pieces were (and still nowadays are) of rare beauty and extremely accurate manufacture, presumably destined to wealthy customers and connaisseurs. Even if he borrowed some aspects of Stradivari style, Bergonzi nonetheless follows original patterns. By now , a cooperation between Carlo and Stradivari in the 30s of the XVII century has been established ; though, it is hard to specify the features of this relationship which ended with Stradivari's death in 1737, after wielding an almost absolute control for half century on the market and culture and not only in Cremona.