The MMDigest dated 040521 contained a post about the length of the web
between repeated notes in coin piano rolls.  Quoting from the post:
"recut music rolls made decades later wouldn't be as precise as new
rolls of the 'teens and '20s."

Having more than a nodding acquaintance with re-cutting original rolls,
I can tell you that "precise" is certainly not a adjective to be
applied to the quality of music rolls produced by the Clark Orchestra
Roll Company.  After scanning over 65 original Clark rolls, I can
attest to the fact that they produced some of the most shoddy music
rolls ever to roll off a production perforator.

Clark certainly had more than one perforator and I have found three
different note hole sizes punched in their various rolls.  The
interposers on their machines routinely jammed or stayed on, and
tremolo notes end up being one repeated note and the corresponding
note a long sustained one when the roll is played on a piano or passes
over a scanner head.  In other words, the rolls were never punched
correctly in the first place.

If you re-cut a defective roll, you have two choices: (1) re-cut it
as it was originally, mistakes and all, or (s) spend countless hours
editing out the mechanical mistakes.  There was some attempt to tape
over incorrectly punched holes and punch corrections by hand.

At least three Clark rolls I scanned had two different note hole
sizes in the same roll.  No doubt, those two punches or the dies were
damaged, and the dies were simply reamed out and a larger punch
inserted.

I doubt seriously that the end users of original rolls back in the
"good old days" paid much attention to the quality of the rolls.
In a large number of cases, the coin pianos were nothing more than
background music (I cannot imagine anyone dancing in a barber
shop, home to large numbers of Seeburgs and Western Electrics.)  Nor
did anyone dancing in a "speak" care particularly whether or not the
single tremolo line of a Capitol roll was punched correctly.

As for chain bridging in rolls, why did the original roll makers use
them only for control perforations, i.e., soft, sustain, mandolin,
extra instrument and not for the notes?  Capitol did not even use
bridged perfs for their sustain pedal.  The rolls had to work on a wide
variety of machine, and the roll company was shooting for a happy
medium of compatibility.

In the computer world they say, "Garbage In, Garbage Out".  The same
could be said for roll companies who cared little for quality control
of their product.  The Clark Orchestra Roll Company of DeKalb, Illinois,
certainly should be included in that list.

Re-cut an original defective roll and you can expect to get a defective
re-cut, unless you take the time to correct things, or your perforator
and the computer that controls it can magically correct things as it
chomps away.

Ed Gaida
18 blocks North of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas