[CAUT] Steinway Pedal Lyre Regulation After Reconditioning

[Norman Cantrell]

Paul

You are referring to the Steinway rest cushions which have also been referred to 
as the "ravioli" in earlier posts.  These are simple to manufacture on your own 
and in doing so you can control the overall thickness.  The cushions consist of 
a sandwich of two layers of leather with a felt center.  To make them use a 
forstner bit to drill a hole 7/8 diameter in the center of a block of wood that 
measures roughly 2' by 2".  Drill to a depth of no more than 3/8".    Take two 
oversized squares of leather (1 1/2" by 1 1/2" or so) and lay the first square 
of leather over the center of the hole.  Next take a front rail punching of your 
choice of thickness and lay it in the dimple of the hole in the block of wood.  
Coat the visilble leather with glue and place the second square over the first 
aligning as you go.  Take a second block of wood 2" by 2" and place it over the 
first block to form a clamping caul.  Install a clamp of choice until the glue 
is dried.  Once it is dry remove it from the blocks and trim to size.  Usually I 
use two types of leather.  A thicker suede is used for the bottom (non domed) 
portion of the ravioli and a thinner cabretta or pig skin is used for the top 
layer as it more easily shapes around the felt punching.  By gluing only leather 
to leather you can avoid hard spots that are potential noise makers.  These 
ravioli are a great design because of the long lasting qualities of the leather 
contact area.

Norman Cantrell, RPT  




________________________________
From: "Paul Milesi, RPT" <paul at pmpiano.com>
To: PTG CAUT List <caut at ptg.org>
Sent: Sun, August 15, 2010 4:04:54 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway Pedal Lyre Regulation After Reconditioning

Jon,

After installation of the new pedal cushions, the pedals ended up pretty much 
level I’d say, which I liked.  Being a pianist myself, I judged the feel with 
the lyre on the piano, and don’t believe I’d want them much higher or lower.

You refer to the cushion rest “package.”  Do you mean something more than the 
stuffed leather cushions that are tacked to the bottom board?  Is it typical to 
adjust their thickness in some way?  I have on occasion seen felt on top of the 
cushion to adjust the rest position, but obviously in this case I don’t want the 
rear of the pedal to be any higher than it is now.  I suppose it would be 
possible to squash them in a vise to thin them, but that doesn’t seem like it 
would be desirable, as it might introduce more noise?  Just curious as to best 
practices in this area.

Paul
-- 
Paul Milesi, RPT
Staff Piano Technician
Howard University Department of Music
Washington, DC


________________________________
From: Jon Page <jonpage at comcast.net>
Reply-To: <caut at ptg.org>
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:03:14 -0400
To: <caut at ptg.org>
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Steinway Pedal Lyre Regulation After Reconditioning


is that the new pedal cushions ("ravioli") are
>thicker than the originals.
>

In deciding on the thickness of the rest 'package',
consider the inclination of the pedals at rest.

Probably set them level to start, knowing the felt will compress
and the pedal will rise in the front. But I still start with the front
slightly higher than level to allow the pedal to traverse through
level but not so much that once the compression happens, the
pedal is too high.

In other words, use your best guess...

Regards,

Jon Page
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