Andrew pushed one of my hot buttons this morning with his request to
locate rubber bands for 88-note rolls.  After handling thousands of
rolls of various types over the years, one of the most common (and
preventable) causes of damage on rolls is the infamous rubber band.

With age, some become hard and brittle and fuse to the roll paper.
When you try to remove these, if you are lucky enough to avoid
tearing the paper when you remove the remains of the rubber band,
the stiff section becomes an area of the roll that breaks up when
it is wrapped around the take up spool or makes a nice stiff area
to encourage a tear.  Other rubber bands turn to a gummy mess with
age and behave like glue to adjacent layers when the roll is played.
The result can be tearing of the roll during rewind.  In addition,
remaining lumps of rubber band telegraph through to adjacent layers
of paper during play and cause damage further down the roll.

If the roll is not wound tightly when the rubber band is installed,
it can crease the paper.  This damage is permanent and can eventually
act as a perforation line on the roll, resulting in a tear.  Finally,
if you are not careful when removing a rubber band, it can catch on
the slanted edge of the leader and slice right through the paper,
especially if the paper is older.

The bottom line is, please keep rubber band and music rolls away from
each other.  When I prepare a roll for shipping, I wrap a one inch wide
strip of paper around the roll and tape the overlapped strip to itself.
I would love to find a source for the adhesive used on Post-it notes
to make strips like this reusable.

Jack Breen
Southborough, Massachusetts