"loud" pedal

[Stephen Airy]

I'm talking about the hammer rail pedal (the one that
moves the hammers closer to the strings), not the felt
pedal.  And you're most likely right about my mom's
piano needing una-corda pedal regulation and hammer
voicing.  IMHO, the action works wonderfully, although
I have noticed recently that I can't quite play as
softly as I used to.  On a contrasting (? - correct
choice of adjective?) note, I personally think the
tone (especially in the bass :) where the longest
string is about 12" inches shorter than in my upright)
is a little too mellow for my tastes, although I don't
like it super jazzy.  I have liked most (if not all)
of the Baldwin Hamiltons and Wurlitzer verticals
(mostly console and spinet) I have heard.

--- David Ilvedson <ilvey@jps.net> wrote:
> Well now Stephen, the una-corda has to be regulated
> and the hammers voiced
> to work correctly.  If you are speaking of the mute
> pedal on an upright,
> which lowers felt in front of the hammers, you have
> something that
> completely changes the sound of the piano and really
> affects the touch/feel
> of the piano.  I'll take the una-corda...although I
> like the Fender Rhodes
> sound of the mute pedal occassionally.
> 
> David I.
> 
> *********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********
> 
> On 6/4/01 at 8:11 AM Stephen Airy wrote:
> 
> >A lot of my friends call the right (sustain) pedal
> the
> >"loud" pedal.  I sometimes correct them and say
> it's
> >the "damper" or "sustaining" pedal.
> >
> >As for a soft pedal, in my experience I think a
> hammer
> >rail pedal works better than an una corda pedal. 
> My
> >mom's 1999 PG-150 baby grand has an una corda which
> is
> >almost unnoticeable, and my 1913 Ricca & Son has a
> >hammer rail pedal which works wonderfully, even
> though
> >the rest of the piano needs restoration (although
> from
> >what I can tell the soundboard & ribs look & sound
> >pretty good).
> >
> >
> >--- Dave Nereson <dnereson@dimensional.com> wrote:
> >> 
> >>   ----- Original Message ----- 
> >>   From: David Ilvedson 
> >>   To: pianotech 
> >>   Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2001 10:34 PM
> >>   Subject: Re: Keybed Inserts
> >> 
> >> 
> >>   Are you calling the left pedal the loud pedal? 
> I
> >> call it the shift pedal
> >>   or soft pedal.
> >> 
> >>   David I.
> >> 
> >>   > If the loud pedal is used with any
> regularity,
> >> the glide bolts 
> >>   >will easily burnish a trough in side grain and
> >> will need to be 
> >>   >readjusted regularly. 
> >> 
> >>   >Bill Ballard RPT
> >>   >NH Chapter, P.T.G.
> >>   >
> >>   >"May you work on interesting pianos."
> >>   >     ...........Ancient Chinese Proverb
> >>   >+++++++++++++++++++++
> >> 
> >>   There IS no "loud pedal" on a piano.  The right
> >> pedal operates the dampers and is the damper
> pedal,
> >> or sustain pedal, which if held down, can create
> the
> >> illusion that the piano is louder, but it's
> really
> >> not --  there are just more strings ringing
> >> simultaneously.  The middle pedal on better
> grands
> >> and very few uprights is the sostenuto pedal (not
> >> 'sustenuto', even though 'sustain' in English is
> >> spelled with a 'u'), and on most other pianos
> it's a
> >> bass sustain, practice mute (strip of felt),
> >> rinky-tink attachment, or tied to the left pedal.
> 
> >> The left pedal is the "soft pedal" on verticals
> and
> >> a few grands, where it makes the piano "softer"
> by
> >> reducing the blow distance to about half -- this
> of
> >> course introduces much lost motion except in
> those
> >> actions that have "lost motion compensators". 
> And
> >> in those grands where the left pedal shifts the
> >> action laterally, causing the hammers to miss a
> >> string, it's still called the soft pedal by most
> >> people, and the 'una corda' pedal by oth!
> >> ers.  'Una corda' (one string) comes from a time
> >> when most pianos had two-string unisons -- when
> you
> >> depressed the pedal, the action would shift and
> hit
> >> only one string of each unison.  Nowadays, 'due
> >> corde' (two strings) would be more correct since
> >> when the pedal is engaged, the hammers still hit
> two
> >> strings of each unison.  All of which is beside
> the
> >> point, except that to my ears, "loud pedal"
> instead
> >> of "damper pedal" is akin to "pads" or "felts"
> >> instead of "hammers".    As for the inserts for
> the
> >> glide bolts, I would think any hardwood would be
> >> fine, with the end-grain facing up, but oriented
> in
> >> the same direction as the keybed grain.  It would
> >> take a heavy action, rough bolt surfaces, or
> greatly
> >> rounded bolts and an awful lot of action shifting
> >> (soft pedaling -- not 'peddling', which is
> selling
> >> stuff) to wear grooves in the inserts.    --Dave
> >> Nereson, RPT
> >> 
> >> 
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> >> 
> >
> >
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