This thread won't die, but maybe my contribution will be dull enough
and off-topic enough to kill it.

Steve Bentley argues the need to use rubber bands around nickelodeon
rolls to protect them when chucking them on their spool and putting
them onto the machine.  I do know that many heavily-used old rolls
are missing part of their first tune because of damage to them in the
process of loading and unloading them.  Yet I have handled band organ
rolls hundreds of times without damaging a single one.  I change the
rolls daily, and although the wear is distributed over about 130 rolls,
they all remain intact.

The secret for me is that every one of our rolls have a sturdy fabric
leader on them, enrobing the exterior of the roll while it is being
handled.  No danger of the paper wrinkling, ripping, or slipping as
I unbox it, chuck it, and install it, nor when I later reverse the
process to slip the roll safely back into its box.  Additionally there
are several inches (maybe 7 to 12 inches) of transparent tape applied
up the left and right margins of the paper, from where the paper
attaches to the fabric leader.  You can chide me for not using archival
tape here, but the middling quality of tape that I used has held up for
a dozen years.

No rubber bands needed here.

Matthew Caulfield
Irondequoit, New York