Nathan,

Your description caught my attention because I have a particular
interest in anything on the Capitol label!  I'm not familiar with any
9000 series offhand, but I think I recognize the format of your rolls.

I think you're talking about the QRS Automatic / Apollo X / Seeburg XP
expression roll format.  These rolls have 2 channels at the extreme
right end of the roll to enable a split hammer rail: the left channel
controls the bass hammer rail, and the right one the treble hammer rail.
I rebuilt a Melville Clark Apollo footpumper that also has an electric
motor and this expression system in it.  I now have a decent collection
of rolls on all 3 of the above-mentioned labels, but I have never heard
of one on the Capitol label.  Many of these rolls have the pattern you
describe, where the hammer rail lift goes on for a long time then is
interrupted for as little as 1/4".  I don't really understand why this
is, as it rarely results in any logical accenting of playing notes as
one would expect.  Let me continue with my guess as to the rest of the
coding you described.

The 1" slots you describe at the left end of the roll are a dead giveaway.
Again there is a pair of channels, the left one telling the expression
system to decrement the expression level and the right one to increment
same.  At the beginning of any tune the piano won't know where the
expression level is set, so the roll always gives 3 sequential signals
either all the way up or down, then sets the expression level as desired:
either left at max. or min., or stepped once or twice in the opposite
direction.  (My description may be confusing here, and a demonstration
would be easier to follow than my words!)  As the song progresses, the
expression level is incremented or decremented as the music dictates,
and as you observed.  There are 4 levels to the expression mechanism.

There would be no snake bites on any of these rolls.  The other
sporadic holes you describe are probably partial and full crash
signals which accent playing notes.  They occur on outer channels in
the roll.  There is also a motor shutoff, a rewind, and a play channel
similar to most nickelodeon rolls; and there is a sustain channel which
is compatible with standard player rolls.  I think the melody note
extensions you described are simply the arranger trying to make the
melody "sing" above the accompaniment, and I doubt this has any
significance as far as the mechanism is concerned.  The olive paper
sounds consistent with other Capitol A, C and G rolls I've seen.

Capitol is interesting to me because their A rolls and the player rolls
they issued on their own & the Supertone label often have very good
music in them, in my (and Ed Sprankle's and Frank Himpsl's and ...!)
opinion.  There are however earlier Capitol arrangements, typically
before 1921 or so, which are much less interesting.  I have 3 Capitol
C rolls in my collection of this earlier vintage.  One of them is
pretty raggy with WW1 1-step arrangements and such, but the others
are just so-so.

I'd like to know more about these rolls: how many do you have?  Are
they 1-tune or multi-tune rolls?  Any artists listed?  Titles?  I can
probably make some educated guesses if you can send me some details.
I'd like to use these clues to figure out if the tunes are from early
Capitol stock arrangements, later hand-played stuff, or perhaps some
other source.  All 3 labels I mentioned at the top of this email are
from QRS masters or Clark arrangements.  In one case an XP roll had
2 titles that James P. Johnson recorded, but on further investigation
I found only 1 tune was from James P.'s QRS roll and the other tune
was a Clark arrangement.  In many cases these XP rolls are shortened
versions of the QRS roll, unfortunately.

I look forward to hearing from you.  If you'd like to call, I should
be home this weekend: 847-548-6416.  Or email me your phone number and
I'll give you a call.  This is fun stuff - thanks for bringing it up!

Regards,
Rob DeLand