Sheesh!  I know approximately nothing about piano rolls, but I do
know a bit about schools and research.  And I fully agree with
Mr. Reinhart's polite suggestion that some professors have rocks
in their heads, a condition due principally to arrogance.

No good scientist can ever afford to ignore information or opinions
offered by non-academics, and the literature in every field is filled
with the stories, many amusing, relating the unfortunate fate of those
who did.

My own field -- at least, the topic of my graduate research -- is
the problem of lightning strikes on buried utilities like gas pipes,
electric wires, and telephone wires.  Nobody knows much about this,
which is why my school accepted it as a valid topic for research.

So the first thing I did was to call the engineering division of
every gas, power, and telephone company I could reach, the best of
which are generally staffed by people who started as linemen or gas
pipe fitters, most of whom would have had little higher education.
I asked each of them what they knew or wished they knew about
lightning damage to their equipment.

And yes, I heard plenty of folklore, like underground lakes that
supposedly attract lightning strikes.  But I also heard interesting
opinions and experiences as well as a good deal of history, all of
which I was glad to take into account when I built my apparatus and
wrote my dissertation.

Historical and other research into mechanical music is no different:
you go where the information is, and never, ever brag about your
academic credentials to anyone.  (I always said that I worked for
the school, but nothing further.)

If anyone out there in academe knows more about music rolls than,
say, Art Reblitz or Mr. Reinhart, it'd be interesting to find out
how they learned it.

I'm writing this because academic arrogance irritates me.  For a
researcher, a doctorate in a field is nothing more than a license to
learn more, for it shows that you've done your homework and are thus
entitled to ask dumb questions without fear of being laughed off the
premises.  (It doesn't always work.)

I'm always suspicious of anyone who introduces themselves as
"Dr. Somebody" unless I'm sitting on an examination table.  Similarly,
a signature containing "Ph.D." tends to raise my hackles unless it
belongs to someone applying for a grant.  Beware of guys like this,
for there are lots of them.

Mark Kinsler

P.S.: (Okay, Ph.D., but my mechanical music credentials date from 1971,
when I worked with a broadcast engineer named Chester Kuharski, who
taught me about radio transmitters and a bit about reproducing pianos.)