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

Hi Troy,  I have a QRS version of "The Jolly Blacksmith" on a later
Bluebird Ballad label released by QRS.  All bass notes are there.  You
can hear a proper version of "The Jolly Blacksmith" by visiting Warren
Trachtman's web site of rollscan MIDI files,
http://www.trachtman.org/rollscans/

I remember when I was taking piano lessons with my teacher, we often
did duets divided among Primo and Secundo.  The song is divided into
four hands, with one person playing the top of the piano, another at
the bottom.  Therefore, I think it could be possible to have a roll
that either needed another piano playing along with it for the lower
two hands or just someone playing along as you suggested.  Very
interesting, none the less.  I have several "4-hand arrangements" rolls
on labels like QRS, Pianostyle, and Imperial and all play the music as
should be.

I get the feeling errors were common at QRS.  Among the numerous ink
smears on bad copies of rolls, I have found a roll wrapped around its
core backwards, i.e., completely reversed, and also rolls that have no
label, labels upside down, bad and hard to read lyrics from little ink
being used, et cetera.  You can also find rolls that were arranged very
poorly or not perforated correctly, maybe because they had to rush to
get the title out.

Best of luck,
Erik York