Hello MMD.  My Steck Half Duo-Art player action is rebuilt and ready
to go back into the piano, but things have stalled because the piano
needs some regulation, which my amateurish efforts have not resolved.
My piano tuner friend seems to be on holidays (well, he's not answering
his 'phone) so I've turned my attention to Duo-Art roll repair.  The
alternative is domestic maintenance, which is too horrible to
contemplate.

Most of my Duo-Art rolls are of U.S. manufacture but have come from
Sydney, which is hot and humid more than half the year.  This is not
good for rolls stored in cartons in sheds or garages.  In particular,
the painted steel spool ends rust.  Apart from causing staining, rust
on the inside surfaces of the spool ends acts like sandpaper on the
edges of the paper.  It must be removed.

To fix the problem it's best to first take the roll off its spool.
The easy way is simply to cut the paper, but I hesitate to do this.
Instead, I use a piece of wet towelling and an electric iron.  In
between applications of the iron I paint some methylated spirits
(alcohol) over the glued area and sometimes some water, too.  The core
and paper separate readily, usually within a couple of minutes, with
little or no damage to the paper.

Using sandpaper I remove as much rust as possible off the spool ends
and then give them a coat of Feronite rust converter, and finally a
coat of black gloss model paint.  When the paint is dry I re-attach the
roll with one short length of archival tape, in the middle of the core.

I have been using this technique for years on Aeolian 88-note rolls,
mostly UK ones, and they can be tough nuts to crack.  It can take
fifteen minutes to get the roll separated, and often the paper suffers.

I'm delighted by the ease with which the U.S. Duo-Arts come apart.
Does anybody know what glue the Aeolian Company used on their Duo-Art
roll cores?  It's ironic that these rolls have really long tails after
the music, so cutting them off their spools really would not matter at
all.  But I don't like to do it.

John Phillips - in Hobart, Tasmania