nylon pedal brackets

[JPDraine@aol.com]

I've recently run into nylon (or plastic) pedal brackets (or "mounts",
depending on your preferred terminolgy) which squeak or groan when the
sustain pedal is used.
On Saturday I'll be tuning a new Schimmel console which has this problem.
When I did a post-delivery inspection of the piano for my customer, who was
complaining aboutn the squeak, I wanted to take the brackets off, use a bit
of Prolube on the pin and add a felt balance rail punching to take up the
space which was probably responsible for allowing some side to side wobble
which caused the noise. I found that the pedal brackets were two interlocking
pieces which weren't easily "unlockable". Does anyone out there have
experience with these which they might share with me? Should I use a thin
knife or small scewdriver blade to pry them apart? Is the nylon somewhat
brittle or very forgiving? While I know it would be easier to work on if the
piano were on its back, and the bottom board removed, rather than huddling on
the floor in a cramped space, I'd prefer to avoid all that hassle.
I *did* drip a bit of Protek CLP on the bracket and pedal pin, which quieted
the noise down for the moment, but I'd like to get some Prolube in there.
A week ago I had the same problem with a Baldwin Hamilton studio console. In
that case the sustain pedal brackets interlocked with an even larger bracket
for the middle pedal. Again, no problem if the bottom board is removed as
when it was originally installed, but a headache when trying to get a quick
tuning done in a high school music classroom (and no one was complaining
about the squeak).
Thanks, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Patrick Draine, RPT
Billerica, MA