At the risk of reopening an age old controversy to which there may
be no definitive answer, I will ask a question to which I have never
gotten a satisfying answer.

How much difference does the size of the "Themodist" holes make on
Duo-Art recut rolls?

Some recuts use the larger "Note" hole size for the "Themodist" holes
rather than smaller "Snakebites."

I have tried to compare recut rolls that use larger "Themodist" holes
with original rolls and have had mixed impressions.  Some rolls sound
okay and others do not.  The problem is that my comparisons are much
too subjective rather than objective.  There are so many variables that
could have affected the sound of the recut rolls that it is impossible
to say that the size of the "Themodist" holes was the only difference.

One observation that I have made is that on original rolls the sum of
the cross sectional areas of the two "Themodist" holes is about equal
to the cross sectional area of a "Note" hole.  Therefore, the air flow
is about the same.  Certainly smaller holes could be switched on and
off faster than larger holes.  Aeolian went to a lot of trouble to use
a different hole size for the "Themodist" holes so they must have had a
good reason.  Maybe some of their Patents might give a clue.

I would appreciate learning Aeolian's reasoning for the "Snakebites"
and whether over the course of time they found that it really did not
make that much of a difference, but continued their use for
historical or other reasons.  We may never know.

Joe Orens
VTPB43A@prodigy.com