I sure I like everything Gene Gerety says and wish him much success
with his laser project and his well-thought out replication approaches.
I'd like to share some conclusions reached during the active years of
my roll recutting and reissue activities with my Echoes rolls.

Between 1972-1985 I reissued 222 rolls using mostly 88-note masters,
but also some 65-note (6/inch) transfers up to 88-note format.  Between
1977 and ending in 1997 I reissued 24 10-tune nickelodeon A-rolls with
an emphasis on blues material.

My 88-note reissue notifications were mailed to an average of 25-28
potential customers.  The count of available reissue rolls was 18 and
never more than 20.  My A-roll reissue lists were sent to the about the
same count of customers.  18 to 20 copies of each A-roll were
available.

The choice of material was all mine.  I concentrated on rolls I didn't
have in my collection.  I figured I could do my own stuff any time.
The emphasis was on ragtime and blues material.  For the A rolls, I
focused on original Capitol rolls which contained mostly or all blues.

I was pleased to find that customers trusted my selections and
judgement.  Each list completely sold out in (usually) two weeks.
Customers could buy just one roll, some rolls or all rolls on each
list.

I tried a double run only once.  I found that it was easy to sell 18-20
reissues but very difficult to sell the second cutting.  I never recut
anything I had previously issued.

Doing each list was incredibly hard work.  I had to:

1. Find good material.  The owner had to trust the mail to get the
original (master) to me.  Then trust me to be a careful custodian and
return the original to its owner.

2. Inspect each roll (master) for damage.  Do minor repairs to assure
safe passage through the reader.

3. Schedule time on the perforator.  (Sometimes this took months of
waiting for a scheduled die change to avoid a horrible die change
charge.)

4. Drive 80 miles to the perforator to deliver the masters then go back
for the copies when ready.  This saved trusting the mail for the master
going and the master and the reissues coming back.  The biggest fear
was worrying about damage to or losing a master.  (It never happened.)

5. Write, print (30 copies) and mail the offering letter/list.

6. Mail the list and tally the offers.

7. Type the roll and box labels and glue them onto the rolls and boxes.

8. Assemble 18-20 rolls times the number of rolls on the list.

9. Handle the sales and mail billing.

10. Pack the rolls for each order.

11. Schlep the boxes to the post office.

Granted, I made some things harder than they needed to be, mostly
through stupidity and by being pretty conservative in most activities.

I usually charged the recutting cost, plus supplies plus postage and
insurance and a small profit.  I never really made any significant
money but I enjoyed doing each project list.  A few customers thought
I was charging too much, but they snapped up the rolls anyway.

I felt that I was performing an important service in sharing 18-20
copies of a lot of very scarce rolls.  And believe it or not, it was
fun.

That's how it worked for me!

Ed Sprankle
Oakland, California