Re: Self-Destructing Rolls on Steinway
By Robin Pratt
re: Steve Harris watching several rolls self-destruct on his Steinway
Duo-Art.......
Sounds more like a piano problem than a roll problem. Is your tracker aligned properly? Is your automatic tracker pneumatic AIR TIGHT? Are your brakes too tight? Is your transmission binding? Old rolls tend to warp due to poor storage conditions by previous owners, do you store your rolls horizontally with an elastic (rubber) band around them to "re-train" them to their "normal" shape? Many Duo-Art spool ends are rusty due to Moisture in the paper and acid, have you replaced these and the cores? Do you pull out the left (unslotted) spool end before you play the music roll thereby allowing for the possibly warped roll to wander and fluff itself onto the core? If the left spool end won't stay out, simply put a small tab of tape on the inserting end and it will give you some resistance and it will stay out about 1/8 of an inch.
As a long time roll collector and Publisher of the AMICA Bulletin, I have had many people ask me about rolls and tearing (mostly on REWIND!).
Without fail all have thanked me and said by using these simple techniques (now habits), they have reduced roll damage to ZERO! It seems to me that although I agree that the rolls NEED to be preserved and through midi is the best and most obvious choice (I use it myself for my ARTISTS' CHOICE recuts), the cost of altering an original art object to off set faulty restoration techniques is, well it speaks for itself. Wouldn't the cost of the midi installation be more than the cost of a service call?
As far as space for storage, I can't help you there, except, who needs a sofa anyway when you can have music?
Robin Pratt
P.S. If the piano and reproducing mechanism are not Impeccably retored to original factory specs, NO OTHER player (including a disc/midi player) is going to make it operate correctly anyway. (These are just the voices of experience haunting me and not meant as personal attacks on anyone in particular or their instruments, I hope you understand.)
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(Message sent Fri 1 Dec 1995, 15:00:23 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.) |
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