Ed Chaban makes some good points about the availability of a wide
selection of piano rolls.  When we got into the hobby 35 or so years
ago this was a problem, and it still is.  Today there are thousands of
roll scans in various formats, all of which can be potentially
converted into files that will run a perforator.

Will customers pay for converting a file and cutting one copy?  Not
too often, I'm afraid.  Consider that in the '20s a beer cost a nickel
and a classical piano roll cost around $2.  Using that ratio, where
today a cheap beer costs around a dollar, that would make the price of
a roll $80, and that's for production quantities.  If I valued my time
at an auto mechanic's rate, creating a roll from a raw file would cost
$100, to say nothing of the cost of building and maintaining the
perforator.

Fortunately for our customers, roll cutters such as Dave Saul, me,
Carl Lambie, and the rest of our "team", we are retired or don't need
the money and provide our services mainly as a hobby.  No way could we
make a living selling the few copies we do at the prices people will
pay.  It would be a different matter if we could sell hundreds or
thousands of a single title, as was done in the '20s.

As Spencer Chase has said, using computer and electronic technology
allows one to have these scanned files on tap for playing at will
through a real piano.  For just listening to the music this makes
a lot of sense.

There are, of course, several ways of getting from file to sound,
including Spencer's system and MIDI pianos.  In our small house
the choice for playing the thousands of scanned files was a Yamaha
Disklavier, which allows us to play any of the reproducing formats
via several programs.  Then again, nothing beats sitting at a pumper
watching the roll go by and adding our own expression by hand and foot,
and we enjoy playing reproducing rolls on an original system as part
of our hobby.  So we have a good collection of paper rolls as well,
both original and recuts.

As far as creating quality Duo-Art rolls, Dave Saul is working on
a punch and die set for that format, and we have plans for one in the
future.  Ours will be a while in coming as we are now building a punch
and die set for 6 holes per inch, and will be working next on a Welte
T-100 set.  Keep in mind that these projects are hobby, not business,
so schedules tend to bend around other parts of life.

So there it is -- mainly a matter of economics.  If recutters are
making the roll you want, you luck out.  If not, are you willing to
pay for making it?

Bob Billings