[pianotech] middle pedal

[Ken & Pat Gerler]

I have a church with a "gray market" Yamaha that only had the two pedals, BUT someone prior to me and the church buying the piano attempted to add Sustenuto - acquired a three-pedal lyre and drilled the keybed to accept the trapwork.  Since it was 'gray market'  Yamaha Corp US would not supply the materials to add Sustenuto.

That is where I came in. They asked if I could make the middle pedal work.  After examining the piano and realizing the situation, I explained the above to them.

I have also seen grands with a PianoDisc (I believe) system installed and the Sustenuto disconnected because there was no way to modify the trapwork to keep it in operation.  I was called to see if I could put it back into operation!

Ken Gerler
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Formsma 
  To: pianotech at ptg.org 
  Sent: Monday, December 27, 2010 9:56 PM
  Subject: Re: [pianotech] middle pedal


  At least your middle pedal actually did something. I've got a customer with a Young Chang PG-150 ... it has a middle pedal, and a brass rod, and a sostenuto mechanism screwed to the belly rail. But nothing connecting the sostenuto mechanism to the brass rod. No trapwork. Wonder how this managed to pass through quality control ....


  I began tuning this one in 2003, and eventually noticed its absence. Customer never tried to use it. Young Chang has the parts, and they're not expensive, so maybe one day she will pay me to "fix" it.


  --
  JF


  On Mon, Dec 27, 2010 at 12:58 PM, Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote:


    Well, it happened again today, and it still amazes me after all these years and all these repeats.

    Shucking off my coat and raising the lid on a Young Chang grand, I asked the guy the usual "Anything else I need to know about besides tuning?". "Oh yea, she said the middle pedal doesn't work". I checked it, and it worked fine, except it squeaked. He, meanwhile tried to call her to make sure, but had to leave a message. So I narrowed down the cause of the squeak, pulled the action, and disassembled and lubed the sostenuto bushings. De-squeaked, I put the action back and started tuning. I was most of the way through it when she phoned back. Yup, the middle pedal doesn't work, because it doesn't lift the bass dampers. I'd already explained to the husband that this was probably what it was about, so I described to her what a sostenuto is, what it does, and that she has a real one in her piano instead of the pretend version bass damper lift. Oh, she didn't know that. Finished tuning amid a three way conversation between me, the husband, and the HVAC guy who was there for a humidifier complaint service call. He was great. Everything he said was informative, accurate, and reasonable, and we both had pretty much the same story, so maybe they'll have a chance with the humidifier now.

    What amazes me, and has many times in similar situations, is that she's had the piano for 18 years, and I've serviced it for probably 15. In that time, she never noticed the middle pedal not lifting the dampers. Not once. It still also amazes me, after all these years, when I finally notice something that's been flailing around in front of me in plain sight for ever.

    nrg

    Ron N


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