M&H Sostenuto Adjustment

[Ed Sutton]

    Looking at one that is the same vintage you mention, I can see that the
sostenuto supports have been bent to make adjustments.
    Eighty years later I wouldn't feel comfortable bending them that much
without having a replacement at hand!
    They can also be turned in and out if you remove the rod.  The thread
has rather slight pitch, probably with this in mind.
    You also might consider bending the damper wires to move the tabs back,
and make sure the tray is all the way back in place, and that the rod is not
bent.
    It must have worked once, and it's not too likely the rod brackets have
moved.
    Ed S.

----------
>From: Lawrence Becker <lawrence.becker@uc.edu>
>To: caut <caut@ptg.org>
>Subject: M&H Sostenuto Adjustment
>Date: Fri, Aug 9, 2002, 10:40 AM
>

> Dear list-
>
> Yesterday I was working on a Mason & Hamlin A from the early 1920s.  I was
> having trouble with sostenuto tabs jamming against the round barrel of the
> sostenuto rod, and it would have been helpful to be able to adjust it out,
> away from the tabs.  However, I couldn't find any adjustment
> available.  These did not look to be bendable brackets, but are a solid,
> machined metal anchored in the belly rail.
>
> Anybody got some insight into these critters for me?
>
> Lawrence Becker, RPT
> Piano Technician
> College-Conservatory of Music
> University of Cincinnati
>