Hi Diane
I can't really comment on how your breeder trims his dogs, except to say that clipping show Cocker coats goes against everything I was taught & you won't find a book written by a UK expert which recommends this severe method of trimming, although it is quite common in other countries & in American Cockers in this country (even then, the ones that have been properly handstripped stand out from the crowd). I can't really advise you what to do as my approach is so different from your breeder's, all I can say is that a properly handstripped Cocker always looks miles better to me than ones that have been scissored/clipped. How a dog is presented often makes the difference between being placed & not being placed at all, if the dogs being compared are all of a roughly similar standard conformation-wise.
I think you may mean a number 76 comb which is another name for the Spaniel comb & is v good for handstripping Cockers - there seems to be a shortage of them on sale at the moment (COL members have cleaned the suppliers out
) If you can get hold of one, it would be well worth having one in your grooming kit
PS The breeders I admire & who regularly produce top winning Cockers don't clip their dogs so it is not that widespread a practice thankfully