I think the cause of serpentine rolls lies within the roll itself:
the grain in the paper was not straight along the direction of the roll
when it was perforated.  When the roll is put under tension, the grain
tends to straighten up and the edges of the roll therefore wander.
You also get rolls that pull to one side when playing, and to the other
side when rerolling -- 'cut on the bias', as it were.  These rolls are
innately self-destructive and probably can't be cured.

A good start to getting rolls to track better is to align the spoolbox:
roll spool, takeup spool and tracker bar should all be in line with the
tracking system centred.  This can work wonders in a couple of minutes
on machines whose owners have given up in despair.

The primary means of tracking rolls is the flanges on the spools, which
should be only a little wider than the roll.  It is a mistake to widen
spools because this allows the roll to wander further (and impact the
flanges harder as it wanders).  The best design for tracking is the
variable-width takeup spool, which can cope with anything!  The real
problem with tracking wandering rolls happens when the paper edges are
no longer strong enough to keep them in line.

Julian Dyer