[pianotech] middle pedal

[Ron Nossaman]

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