-- non-subscriber, please reply to sender and MMD --

I started using my reproducing Ampico baby grand about this time
last year after a ten-year hiatus.  I found that many of my rolls had
problems, the worst of which was "bridge disease".  I found an old
article by Tom Lear in MMD of 2000.01.24.12 which addressed this
problem with a very aggressive approach.  I emailed Tom and asked him
what his results were four years later.  He said that he had not used
his rolls much for three years and could not give a good follow-up.

Since it was either throw the rolls away or try his approach, I bit the
bullet and proceeded with a trial.  As he states, it is extremely easy
and fast to repair long and wide areas of "bridge disease".  I made no
effort to place this material on both edges of a roll to "balance" it.
Since then I have played these rolls frequently and a year later they
are unchanged.  I am certain that if you use a lot of this material on
one roll, as I did on several rolls that you could change the speed of
the roll.  As mentioned previously, that is probably better than
destroying the roll.

I have had absolutely no problems with play, tracking or rewind.  The
rolls feel "funny" because of the thickness of the material.  I do not
think that this has affected the tracker bar but, of course can not be
certain.  I doubt that this is any worse than Scotch tape in the same
area as it has less adhesive surface area exposed to the bar.  It is
much easier and complete than using small pieces of Scotch tape as
intermittent bridges or larger pieces that require punching.

There are many similar products on the market but "Fibatape" would
appear to be the thinnest.  I originally had a six-inch roll of this
that I purchased at Lowes to repair a crack in a plaster wall.  I have
been unable to find any wider than two inches locally since then, even
though they still make the wider roll.  If you care to be adventuresome
you can contact them through the following URL and find who carries the
product in your area:
http://www.fibatape.com/product_gallery/wall_rep.html

A 6" by 20' roll can be purchased for $6.43 at
http://doityourself.com/store/6457584.htm

Good luck!
Ben McCall

 [ "Repairing Music Rolls With Fiberglass Mesh Tape", by Tom Lear, at
 [ http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Digests/200001/2000.01.24.12.html
 [ -- Robbie