Hi All,  I am interested in picking up the Duo-Art roll tracking
discussion thread from back in 2010.  My 1929 Steinway L restoration is
now virtually complete and playing beautifully.  The spool box has the
moveable tracker bar tracking system, and after seeing it work, I am
convinced that that is by far the best system.  (I wish I could convert
my Ampico grand to the moveable tracker bar tracking.)

Anyway, when restoring the take-up spool, I spaced the brass flanges out
a little bit to give the roll paper more room to shift sideways without
hurting the edges during play.  This works great, but during play of
a long roll it allows enough sideways movement of the paper so that the
paper does not line up perfectly to wind back onto the original spool
on re-roll and I have to be very careful during reroll so that the
spool flanges don't damage the paper.

I believe I read somewhere that if the brass take-up spool flanges are
_not_ spaced out, the flanges tend to guide (channel) the paper (with
less sideways shift) but without damaging the paper edges, so that it
is able to reroll straighter with less tendency to hit the original
spool flanges.  Is this true or is it a myth?

To minimize any other contributing factors, I have measured and
adjusted the tracker bar (in and out) spacing so the tracker bar and
the take-up and feed spools are exactly parallel.

I have also limited the travel of the little pneumatic on the Tempo
module that closes and allows fast reroll by adding an adjustable stop
screw.  With that modification, I can now control the speed of reroll
with the tempo lever.  This helps preserve fragile rolls.

Thanks,
Pat DeWitt
Fort Wayne, Indiana