Hello Lex:  Last year, I had my friend Bob Streicher make up for
me several roll chucks for 65/88-note pianos out of stainless steel,
and I can sell you one.  It is an improved design that should have
been made years earlier.

Basically, I had Bob make them so that the 88-note sleeve that goes
over the 65-note chuck is now a screw thread, and not a friction fit,
which is why they are so often missing when movers turn the pianos on
their sides.  I also had him include a knurled ring to lock the sleeve
in position so it won't rotate after you adjust it.

One thing that was never standardized (like the paper being 11.25"
wide) is just how "thick" a certain measurement of the right flange is.
If you have a roll with a very thick flange, then the paper is pushed
too far to the left, and a roll with a thin flange will allow the paper
to be pushed too far to the right.  Yes, most players have trackers but
this is not sufficient.  If you start off a roll where the tracker
mechanism is pushed over all the way, then the tracker cannot push the
paper any more in that direction, so you don't really have a working
tracker mechanism any more.

With my roll chuck, you put in the roll and see how it is going to
play.  If the paper is too far over to the left, you loosen the knurled
ring, make the right chuck just a little shorter, and then lock the
knurled ring.  Now you have a piano that has a tracking mechanism set
in the center when the roll starts to play.  Having the tracker
centered allows the roll to move either direction, and it will track
better.  Incidentally, I do not have a tracking mechanism on my 1913
Steinway foot pumper.  Once I set the roll correctly at the beginning,
I almost never need a tracking mechanism.

I also asked Bob to make the shaft a little longer than originally.
You may need this so you can get the 65-note rolls to be in the right
position.  After that, you only have to set the 88-note chuck when you
play 88-note rolls.  Bob charged me $75.00 each to make these, and I'll
offer to sell you one at that price, plus postage to Australia.

Randolph Herr