Hey all,  I came across an interesting situation today and want to
get opinions on it.  My piano's been out of service for the last eight
years, and I finally got a replacement piece this weekend.  Save for
needing a tuning and a valve that's not quite center on the motor, it
runs great.

I went through almost all of my rolls today.  I only have about twenty
rolls and most are newer QRS ones, save since 1980.  I have about eight
rolls of pre-1980.  Of those, two are 'Art-o-roll's.  Every other roll
played fine except for the two 'Art-o-roll's.  On both of them, when
rewinding, the paper shifts too much and rides up on the flange of the
supply spool, effectively killing the roll.

I have two other rolls from those early years and they haven't given me
issue.  I was worried that all of my older rolls would do it, but no, it
was limited to this brand.  I'm kinda disappointed, since I was a fan of
one of the rolls.  Anyone know if this problem was common to that brand?

 [ I asked Mike to describe the roll tracking system.  -- Robbie

My Aeolian player has a small valve on the upper left side, just above
the tracker bar.  The paper presses against this.  If tracking is off,
the valve will open and a small bellows will push the spool to the
right until the valve closes.  The bellows is slow to respond but it
works great while playing the roll.

But, during rewind, when the paper gets off-center it goes by the
tracker too fast, and then the paper rides up on the left side of the
spool.  It's only for a small distance, like maybe a length of a foot
of paper.  I should also note that on rewind, my piano is a beast --
it's really _fast_.

Cheers,
Mike Morrey