Hi all,  I will try to make this as brief as possible ;-) (if that
is possible?)  :-O

The left flange of the piano roll is not glued due to changes in
humidity and expansion and contraction of the paper roll.  If the
rolls were produced in the winter time at a very dry factory, the
paper might be pre-shrunk.  If the rolls were shipped to humid
Florida, after a short period of time the roll paper would expand
and press on the flanges.

Thus the left flange was left unglued for this reason -- so that the
paper could expand and contract and not be squashed by tightly glued
flanges.  So, do not glue the left hand flange.

There are three things about the left flange and rewinding of rolls:

* If the flange is at the right amount of tension, the roll will rewind
perfectly normal and not be loose, regardless if the brake on the
take-up-spool is loose or not.

* If the left flange is loose and you have an old piano roll that is
pretty fragile, and the cardboard tube is usually shorter than the
paper, sometimes the roll will get frayed edges.

* If the left flange is loose and there is sufficient paper that the
roll will not get frayed edges but the flange is pressing hard enough,
it may cause the paper to rewind loosely.  That is why you may sometimes
have to pull the flange and wind the paper on the core a little tighter.

For a very loose flange, I usually recommend using Scotch tape to put
just enough tape around the part of the flange that goes into the
cardboard core so that it is just slightly snug, but not too tight, so
that the flange cannot move if the paper presses on it.  This is one
method of insuring that your rolls do not fray on the edges during
rewind.

Old rolls can have a tendency of getting frayed edges or torn during
rewind and that is why I usually recommend that people release the
take-up-spool brake.  For historical purposes, I recommend the brake
be left in the player piano.  All of my player pianos have the
take-up-spool brake released and I very rarely have any problems in
playing old rolls and they do not usually tear.

I do not recommend that you loosen the brake on top, for the roll, as
its purpose is to apply tension as the player roll is being pulled by
the take-up-spool and this tension keeps the paper flat and tight over
the tracker bar.

Musically,
Larry Norman - from the Beautiful Smith Mountain Lake where I wish
I was not so busy that I cannot go out on the lake on such a beautiful
day.  But I'm working on player piano rolls.