I came up with a new way of repairing rolls that I think is worth
mentioning.  I finally got a roll that I wanted to hear for several
years, and as I played it, I realized the roll had been slashed while
it was playing, and now it was unplayable.

If a razor or knife had been used my job would have been made easier
because you can make an almost invisible splice of the two pieces of
paper.  But this roll was slashed using something more like a paint
scraper or putty knife.  This tears through the paper leaving tiny
little balls of scrunched up paper sticking to the sides of the cut,
which means you cannot do an invisible repair since there is paper
missing, in the form of the little balls of paper.

In any case, I always had a problem when repairing rolls: Once you
touch the tape to the paper, it sticks permanently and if the two
pieces of paper were not properly aligned, then it will look that
way from now on.

Here is my idea.  You have to have the ability to work on both the
front and back sides of the roll.  When you get the roll paper up to
the torn section, work on the bottom of the roll and use 'Post It'
notes to hold things temporarily.  Designed to stick yet not damage if
removed, it is great for this purpose.  You can cut off only the sticky
part to make it a long thin tape.  If you make a mistake, it is easy to
peel off from the old piano roll, and get it right the next time.

Once you are finished with an area, turn the roll over so now the paper
is face up.  Look for the 'Post It' paper stuck on the bottom of the
roll, and then fix the tear with your permanent tape, putting it on the
face of the roll.  Once you are am finished with that, turn the roll
over again and remove the 'Post It' tape from the back side.

This method is better than any I used before.  I personally roll out
the paper on a kitchen table and let its natural curl wind up, becoming
the take up spool.  Then I advance until I get to the section I want,
and it's easy to flip between the face and back sides of the paper.
Once you get to the end, you can carefully rewind it using the player
piano.

Obviously, you should pull the left flange out about 1/4" so the paper
has an easier time rolling back.  I use this method, although I usually
hand crank the wind motor to get the paper to rewind.  This way I can
rewind fast and not worry about an out-of-control machine tearing up
a roll.

If someone were to actually make a repair table for this, I imagine
it would be a wide rectangle of plywood, and at each end is a pair of
spring-loaded piano roll holders, like in every spoolbox.  Strangely
enough, the take-up spool is in the center.  The spring roll holders
allow you access to both the front and back of the roll by simply
moving the roll back and forth between the right and left sides of
this table.

The song I repaired was Irving Berlin's hit of 1923, "An Orange Grove
In California," as played by Herbert Clair and Ernest Leith (Frank
Milne).  I plan to put it on YouTube soon so you can see the damage
I had to fix, and you might like the song also, since Clair and Milne
were so talented.

Randolph Herr