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https://shop.qrsmusic.com/Accessories/RollParts

Today I learned that QRS still makes piano player rolls, parts, labels, boxes, repair kits, books, storage.

Hell they still even put out a catalog- https://shop.qrsmusic.com/music/rolls

I have a friend who hand cuts rice paper into rolls then prepares the notes with an X-Acto knife- should I tell him about the pre-made rolls?

Anyway- I purchased a player piano recently, so I've been looking into what's still around with them.

By all means tell your friend about QRS, they have to have customers to stay alive.

I visited the QRS factory in Buffalo in 2005 (I had learned that they had several phonographs they wished to sell).

It was an interesting place - incorporating (then) new technology alongside original factory equipment. Here is a link to some of the company's history:

https://buffaloah.com/a/niag/1026/1026.html

How the freak is QRS still open if they've been having rapid declines since the 1940s.

It appears QRS is also selling some sort of new automatic system to compete with other companies like Spirio. Called Pianomation- heres a photo.

*different from the Player Piano/Pianola

I think the old Player Piano seems a bit more robust then a dozen of these PCBs.

It was only a matter of time and evolution to build an electronic reader for the piano rolls. Many years ago I projected an electrical set of 88 parallel contact wires leading to the corresponding key connectors of my casio keyboard, forming a comb running over a metallic cylinder, the piano roll paper running between them, so each hole in the paper made the corresponding wire to make contact with the cylinder, closing the key circuit and producing the sound. It was fairly simple, and even i acquired two piano rolls for making experiments.
I guess the people at qrs, among many others, have built the same thing. Indeed it's a simple idea, and with today's electronic capabilities... It could be a little marvel.

There are several people who have made youtube videos about homemade gadgets that play the piano mechanically, mostly using midi files. In some cases, it seems they used some kind of reader to convert piano roll punches into data that gets translated into midi data.