All paper music rolls are not the same!! Some are designed for regular player pianos. Some are designed for reproducing pianos and expression pianos (see Example below). Some are designed for nickelodeons, orchestrions, player organs, band organs, and a host of other roll-operated mechanical musical instruments.The QRS Music Rolls that we sell at Player-Care will work in all regular 88-note, 64-note, reproducing, and expression pianos. (However, QRS rolls DO NOT have special Expression or Reproducing Coding.) They WILL NOT WORK in nickelodeons, orchestrions, 65-note players, or other types of mechanical musical instruments. But how can you tell for sure if QRS music rolls will work in your instrument?

The surest way is to compare the pictures below against your unit. The first picture shows the right roll chuck. Measurements are provided for absolute accuracy. The second picture shows the flange on the right end of the music roll. If both the roll chuck and the right flange match what you have, you have an 88-note player piano music roll and all regular 88-note player piano rolls will work in your player piano. If you don't have a roll to check, measure the number of note holes per inch in the trackerbar. All 88-note player pianos use a spacing of 9 holes per inch.

Also, player pianos like the 64-note Aeolian Pianola utilize "octave coupling". This allows all of the notes on a standard 88-note roll to play within the 64-note range of the instrument. Also note that standard 88-note music roll 'paper' measures exactly 11-1/4 inches wide, and the spacing between the left and right roll chucks (with no roll in the unit) is 11-1/2 inches. Also note that the spacing of the holes in a standard 88-note trackerbar is exactly 9 holes per inch.

Expression and Reproducing rolls, like those made by Duo-Art, Ampico, and Welte-Mognon, have what's known as 'expression perforations' or binary coding at the edges of the roll (see image below). In almost all cases, most of these 'extra' holes are located within the regular 88 note range on the trackerbar. As a result, those perforations play unwanted notes in the extreme bass and treble registers as the music is playing. To prevent these binary codes from causing unwanted notes to play on a regular 88-note player piano, you can put Scotch tape over the last five note holes on the trackerbar in the bass and treble ends of the bar.