I agree wholeheartedly with Ken Vinen's solution to the left-hand music
roll flange problem, which is to use neoprene washers on the flange to
hold it out from the roll edge.  I have done it exactly like this for
years and it works perfectly.  I really like the "Ideal" green paper
rolls (The Rose Valley Company), and these are very brittle now.  But
with this method, even these rewind smoothly without damage.  Nothing
is more disgusting than playing a roll that you really like for the
first time, and then having it ripped to shreds as soon as rewind hits.

Like Ken said, use the appropriate number or neoprene rings until the
flange has a small gap between it and the edge of the paper.  The idea
being to leave about 1/64" gap between the left margin of the paper and
the flange, or about 1/32" if it's a really dry day humidity wise.
Doing this gives the paper much needed space to prevent damage.  I cannot
believe that most roll companies did it the way they did -- by letting
the left hand flange crush into the paper.  Of course, when the paper
was new, it was strong enough that tearing wasn't a problem like it is
now with the paper very aged.

Of course, sometimes those Bakelite flanges get a warp.  This will tear
rolls also obviously.  If the warp is minor, just grab a pair of pliers
and crack off the warp!  You'll have a flange with a chunk cracked off,
but you can still play it as ugly as it looks.  I've never torn a roll
edge because of a cracked flange in all of my 23 years of playing
rolls.

Okay, just for the record, here's my two cents on tracking devices:

My favorite of all is the Baldwin "floating triangle" operated by extra
large sensing fingers.  It automatically adjusts to any width roll, and
the sensing fingers are so large and perfectly counterbalanced that the
slightest touch is sensed by the unit.  Being that the sensing fingers
are larger and balanced on little pins (not spring loaded like Aeolian)
a larger segment of the travelling roll presses lightly against the
finger to operate it.

Because so much paper edge is pushing it, the roll can even be a bit
"soft edged" and this thing will still track it like a champ.  This
tracking device is absolutely ingenious and precision.  In fact, I
think the stack design, and the engineering of the entire Baldwin
system is excellence in design, and housed in really great pianos.

My second favorite is the Aeolian method with smaller sensing ears
opening pallets.  Some of these were tubed to operate during re-roll.
Of course, today they should be modified _not_ to operate on re-roll,
but to remain in exact center position.

Remember that on any "edge feeler" type tracking device, the feelers
are not supposed to touch the roll during play.  There should be a
slight gap of about 1/64".

I always liked the Standard Player Action and Auto-Deluxe Action
staggered hole tracking system design, but it only works with rolls
that have perfect edges.

The worst tracking device is by far the Hardman-Peck Autotone and
Playotone system that only used one edge sensing finger and one
pneumatic.  It constantly was opening and closing the pallet as the
roll was driven continuously against the finger, and as a result,
this movement had to be continuously corrected for!  Talk about
a mess.  I don't know what they had in mind when they came up with
that one.  The Hardman pianos were a fine brand.  I can't believe
they dropped the ball like that.

These are all my own opinions of course!

John D. Rutoskey