A good point. You can prune most fruit trees back very heavily with a
wide degree of success. No argument there. Your guy was back to a crop
in a couple of years and I'm sure in 3-5 he is back to his old yield
levels, my suggestion keeps it averaged out and less risky to the tree
overall. It’s just a different and vastly more cautious approach.
As a rule I do not remove more than 1/3 of any tree at any one time,
and only then with a specific reason for such. I admit I’m much more
influenced by the bonsai philosophy these days than in the past.
Takes a long time to grow a good tree. Now if the trees have
"climbed to the light" and are overly stretched (thin or slender) and
there are a strong branch or two to pull nutes and PGH, I would not
hesitate to do a whack job to height on them to bring them back into
training. Regardless, I read his questions and facts and viewed the
pic perhaps a bit differently. A known reference point(s) in the
pic would help but I do not think I would change my recommendation to
go slow, especially not knowing the long term goal. If ya screw up it
will be dead for a long time!

I feel its better to build up the tree trunk/branches a bit more
before you start getting the big flush of growth that follows a
serious pruning. Cheapo had stated already the branches were breaking
with so much fruit. Also, note that the excess vigor that can result
from severe pruning can decrease fruit quality.

This from the AZ Master Gardener website explains my thoughts on
this:
http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg...ng/fruit.html:

“Future pruning of an apple tree is greatly affected by early
training. Much of the pruning of young, bearing trees is the result of
errors made in training in the early life of the tree. Thus, it is
imperative that training begin early. A delay for the first 3 to 4
years will result in a poorly-developed, weak tree. Correction of such
a problem, usually with heavy pruning, will only further delay and
decrease fruit production.”

But, again not to say your guy’s methodology will not work either.
G