I decided to look through the accessible portion of my roll collection
for that pristine original copy of "Mister Jelly Lord" played by Jelly
Roll Morton that I'm _sure_ is there somewhere.  Didn't find it <sigh>,
but I did find an unusual Rythmodik roll for which I welcome comment.

The Rythmodik roll number is J17524, "Murmuring Woods", by Franz Liszt,
played by James Whittaker.  The unusual feature I noticed is on the
_underside_ side of the paper, where there is an inked grand music
staff with the key signature D-flat, with horizontal lines that align
with the perforations and vertical lines aligning with the bars or
measure divisions of the music.

It certainly appears to be a factory feature, not something added by
a user at a later date.  The loud pedal perforation is in the normal
left-hand position.  The staff lines "bleed" through the paper making
them only slightly visible from the front.  Obviously, this would have
been a very labor intensive feature, much more so than adding simple
lyrics, as determination and placement of the measure lines would have
been very time consuming.

Has anyone seen this feature on other Rythmodik (or any) rolls, and
what would have been the practicality of it, being essentially
invisible on the underside of the paper?

Unsurprisingly, the roll box is in terrible shape, as every Rythmodik
box I have with the brown half-tone "pastoral" motif seems to be.  Has
anyone ever scanned this artwork to produce images that could be used
to replicate replacement boxes?

John Grant

 [   Box End Label (Detached)
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/20/09/23/200923_133544_Rythmodik_J17524-1.jpg 
 [   Tab Metrics
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/20/09/23/200923_133544_Rythmodik_J17524-2.jpg 
 [   Front and Back of Roll Leader
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/20/09/23/200923_133544_Rythmodik_J17524-3.jpg 
 [   Back of Tab and End of Roll
 [ https://www.mmdigest.com/Attachments/20/09/23/200923_133544_Rythmodik_J17524-4.jpg 

 [ Brazilian pianist Guiomar Novaes plays Liszt's "Waldesrauschen" at
 [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqNHxx0OYXk  -- Robbie