[ Richard Cole wrote in 210318 MMDigest, "Sadly, there is nothing 
 [ that can be done to strengthen old paper rolls."

Dear all, I was interested in the recent article about strengthening
seriously weakened piano rolls. Over many years I have developed my own
method of strengthening these, not by taping the edges with Filmoplast P,
but by cutting away the damaged edge(s) using a craft knife and steel
straight edge and letting in a new piece which has less width than the
land between the damaged edge and the expression track.

If the damage is more extensive and intrudes into the music part of the
roll then the position of the expression holes is marked with a soft
pencil first. These are then cut as a slot rather than chain cut as
perhaps the original.

I don't have a repair table but use a 450 x 300 mm [~18" x 12"] cutting
mat and cut out sections of the roll which are about 17 inches long.

It is very important that the repair piece is butted up exactly to the
cut-away section and not overlapped. The new repair piece is "tacked" to
the cut-away roll with tiny pieces of Filmoplast and when everything is
lined up with no gaps or creases,then this 18 inch length of Filmoplast
around 1/8-inch wide, is stuck to the roll and repair piece.

Even if there is not necessarily a colour match, then I've found that
18-inch long pieces can be be easily cut from a scrap Aeolian roll,
which is just about the best paper available. Remember to cut them in
the right direction so they "roll up" as the roll itself does. With
practice and the odd cup of coffee I've not found a damaged roll that
cannot be made to play quite satisfactorily and usually a day's work at
most will see a result.

The worst culprits are PianoStyle and early QRS rolls which after 100
years or so become not only damaged but really brittle. It must be said
that my piano has the Higel player with air tracking which is much more
friendly to old rolls than the old finger tracking systems which are
monsters!

Out of interest one of my favourite rolls is the Pianostyle waltz,
"The Skaters", which I initially patched up as it came with the piano.
It's now on it's third rebuild as originally I repaired it with Scotch
Mgic Tape 20 years ago. (I now realise that this was completely the
wrong thing to do.) Having developed the above method and got a bit more
proficient it's perfectly stable and it will probably outlast me! It's
a lovely arrangement and it now tracks perfectly and has more importantly
not suffered any damage since.

I realise that many enthusiasts will recut a roll or buy a new one but
you have to remember, much like fairground organ books, the rolls which
have been played to death are often musically by far the best.

Best regards,
Peter Clarke