Some folks say that the piano and nickelodeon rolls we recut at
Sierra Music Rolls sound better than many original rolls.  The main
reason for this is pretty simple: the old paper is getting brittle
with age and doesn't seal as well against the tracker bar.  The air
leakage makes the effective size and position of the holes in the old
rolls less accurate.  The new paper is more flexible and restores the
original accuracy of hole position.  Of course, well preserved old
rolls aren't improved much in this respect.

Another less obvious reason is that some original rolls were not
accurately punched.  This is particularly evident in the later
Aeolian products, as the perforating equipment (and editing skills!)
deteriorated.  More rolls than one might think have manufacturing
errors, most of which I like to think I have corrected before issuing
the recuts.  Variations in step size between punch rows is common, and
is corrected to even steps.  Missing punches are also common, as is
skew and slew.  These are also corrected in the process.

There are other steps involved in assuring that the recuts are accurate
copies, but they will not be addressed here.

Bob Billings - Sierra Music Rolls
Reno, Nevada
perforator@sbcglobal.net.geentrope [delete ".geentroep" to reply]