Heavy pedal reply

[pianoman]

 Hi Don and All,
	Many times a "perceived" heavy pedal can be caused by the pedal not having
sufficient ground clearance from the surface of the floor.  The closer the
pedal to the floor,  the more it seems like you have to bury "it" to get
some action.  If the piano sits on heavy carpet the piano sinks into the
pile and the pedals come closer to the floor.  Up to a point, the further
the pedals are from the floor the easier and more responsive the pedal
becomes.  It has to do with the angle in which your foot rotates at your
ankle area.  Sometimes I have seen where the pedal is actually making
contact with the floor and of course no matter how hard you push, the pedal
won't go any further.
	Same thing is true having to do with the height of the bench you are
sitting on to play.  This is one reason I started building custom benches.
Normally, the forearms should be parallel to the ground to get maximum ease
of movement in the fingers.  Bench height in relationship to the keys has
everything to do with this.
	I t would be nice if there was a standard manufacturers could comply with
for height of pedal to the floor and height of keys to the floor similar to
AGO specs for organ consoles. Of course the same could be said for
achieving a uniform touch weight for all pianos.  On a related subject, how
about bumpers on all vehicles the same height from the ground regardless of
the type of vehicle so all would match up.  Nah, too much to ask, bumpers
that bump!
James Grebe
R.P.T. of the P.T.G. from St. Louis, MO. USA, Earth
pianoman@inlink.com
"Sometimes it is really good to be pleasantly surprised without knowing
what you did right.".

----------
> From: Wimblees <Wimblees@aol.com>
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: Re: Heavy pedal
> Date: Saturday, March 14, 1998 6:54 AM
> 
> In a message dated 98-03-13 10:40:04 EST, you write:
> 
> >I service a  12 year old Steinway M at a local church.    The complaint
is
> >that the damper pedal is too "heavy",  or hard to depress.
> >The piano player thinks it has become more resistant  with time,
especially
> >in the last month or two.  
> >
> >I've removed the action to check the damper tray which moves freely; the
> >dowel through the key bed is not rubbing; removing the metal rod lets
the
> >pedal drop freely; with the metal rod removed the wooden lever under the
bed
> >also drops freely.  I even removed the coil spring that sits between the
> >wooden lever and the bed, which didn't make enough difference to
satisfy.
> >
> >Any suggestions on how to lighten the pedal feel would be appreciated.
> >
> >Thanks.
> >
> >Don Price
> >dcp@sosinc.net
> >
> >
> 
> Don:
> 
> It has been my experience that Steinway damper pedals are always hard to
> depress. But make sure the bushings inside the lyre box are not worn out,
> causing excesive rubbing. 
> 
> Willem Blees  RPT
> St. louis