What does an 88 standard piano roll look like?

In the 88 standard format, a large number of rolls of music from different manufacturers were brought onto the market. Among them, of course, especially the Aeolian Company or its German branch Choralion Company in Berlin, QRS, S.M., Kastner, Meloto, Philag, Empeco, Triumphola, etc. - less frequently one finds the reels of the many other international manufacturers such as F.I.R.S.T, Victoria, Melographic, Eighty-Eight, Vocalstyle, Universal, Odeola, Pleyela, L'E.M.P., Chase & Baker, Rolla Artis, Artona, Play-Rite, Artistyle, Perfecta, Angelus, and many more. The quality and finish of the music rolls is quite different. Some rolls are also short-lived due to poor workmanship and poor paper quality. Not all reels are musically a pleasure to play, because the quality of the music conversion and die-cutting was sometimes poor. The paper is 28.6 cm wide.

One of the largest producers, which also produced in large quantities until early 2000, is QRS. QRS started producing music rolls in 1900. According to its own information, 1927 was the year with the highest sales of reels of 10 million pieces! The name QRS is said to be derived from "Quality Real Service" - another story says that this name was derived from the alphabetical mailboxes "Q", "R", "S" that this company used internally. Today the QRS reels are mainly recognizable by the red boxes with the eye-catching lettering. The reels are simple but robust and run reliably. Very interesting is the huge repertoire with titles even up to modern pop music. Special editions such as the "Christmas rolls" (green Christmas boxes), which have been published annually since the beginning of the 20th century, as well as artist rolls "Celebrity Rolls" (golden boxes) and other offers are worth mentioning here. In addition to the second-hand market, these rolls can also be ordered new from QRS in the USA.

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