<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"> <title></title> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> Boisselot & Sons of Marseille, 1844 Paris exposition, "... exhibited an instrument in which it was possible to keep any selected group of dampers - or one single damper - off their respective strings while the rest remained in contact with theirs."<br>         Men, Women & Pianos<br> <br> The Europeans didn't like it so maybe Steinway was the first to <i>use</i> the device on their pianos. :-D<br> Tom Cole<br> <br> Joseph Garrett wrote:<br> <blockquote type="cite" cite="mid380-22007132432725406@earthlink.net"> <meta http-equiv="Context-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <p></p> <div> <div> Allen asked: "I'm rebuilding the action and restringing on a 1926 Hamburg Steinway </div> <div> O 170, and was surprised to find that it has no sostenuto mechanism, </div> <div> although it does have tabs on the damper levers (the old un-hinged </div> <div> kind). It's not just missing the mechanism - there are only two </div> <div> pedals. This is my first experience with an old Hamburg; I wondered </div> <div> if others with more experience with them (Europeans perhaps) can tell </div> <div> me whether this is typical, and when they started installing </div> <div> sostenutos. Perhaps other models had the sostenuto in this era, and </div> <div> that's why these dampers have the tabs?" </div> <div>  </div> <div> Sincerely, </div> <div>  </div> <div> Allen, </div> <div> The Sostenuto mechanism was invented by Steinway in the mid 1870's </div> </div> <div> </div> <div> </div> <div>Joe Garrett, R.P.T.</div> <div>Captain of the Tool Police</div> <div>Squares R I</div> <div> </div> </blockquote> </body> </html>