I'll add a couple of comments (while I wait for the Sabers/Montreal OT to start):

Early Cannondales had pretty ugly welds (besides their alignment and distortion issues) but their lightness and immediate stiff/response won over rather quickly. In short time welded frames began to be "graded" by their weld beads (excepting the BMX world who were already there) and weld adherence acceptability evolved.

Back in the Chicago manufacturing days Schwinn used a lot of lead... Easy to apply to a still hot joint and later smooth down.

From what i've understood the "stack of dimes" AL weld beads, from the many mass produced brands, show a lack of best fusion. Still the size of the bead and wall thickness is enough to support the stresses... long enough for the warranty department to be happy.

I know that good fillet brazers can complete a joint and have very little clean up time to get to smooth clean surfaces (wish I was in that club). In mass production tricks can be done to further reduce the human aspect to the actual brazing moments, "brass" preforms and filler doped fluxes have been around for a long time. The classic (if early 1980s can be called that) Peugeots are a nice example of what smart brazing design can result in. (Sabers just lost, oh well there's always next year). Andy.