soft pedal on new Kawaii

[ryan sowers]

My first question is what is the overall tone and
voicing condition of the piano. The "quiet" pedal is
much more effective on uprights if the hammers have
some flexibility in them. 

I may be a minority on this issue but as a player, I
find the left pedal to be a very usefull tool when
trying to gain maximum dynamics when playing uprights.


I have witnessed a concert-level pianist use the left
pedal freely when performing on an upright. 

After all, why would Fazioli bother to put a
similar-functioning pedal on one of the most expensive
pianos in the world. Also this is how many player
pianos, both uprights and grands, improved dynamics. 

It is unfortunte that the typical upright action gains
so much lost motion when the pedal is engaged and it
is true that it can become a crutch. However a pianist
with good technique will still have more control over
the dynamics with than without it. 

One of the things I really like about my Fandrich &
Sons upright piano is that the left pedal lifts the
back of the keys, like the Fazioli. My perception is
that it magnifies my control over the piano at the
pianissimo level. 

Of the people who claim the left pedal is useless, and
strictly for marketing purposes, how many are players?

--- Alpha88x@aol.com wrote:
> Greetings, 
> 
>               Why wouldn't a soft pedal on a brand
> new Kawaii studio upright 
> not make the piano play any softer when depressed? 
> I checked the distance of 
> the hammers and the pedal, caused the hammers, sure
> enough, to get closer to 
> the strings, but the tone of playing did not get
> softer as it should; I mean 
> alomost NO tonal difference.
> 
>                So...I adjusted the soft pedal screw,
> down at the pedal until 
> my ear was satified as to the softness. Adjusting
> this made the hammers 
> distance about 1/2" closer to the strings than it
> was set at. Then, when I looked at 
> the hammer rest rail, it was up off it's resting
> position on the action 
> bracket. In other words, there was about 1/4" space
> between the hammer rest rail's 
> bottom and the felt on the action brackets. When I
> measured the resting 
> position distance of the hammers to the strings it
> was 38mm!!  I know this is too 
> close, but now the pedal causes the hammers to play
> softer....
> 
>                The girl needed to practice for a
> college entrance or 
> something, so I lightly glued small pieces of felt
> in the space in between the rail 
> and the action brackets, as a temporary measure,  as
> to allow the pedal to do 
> what it is suppose to do, so she could practice.
> Howevwer, I told them I would 
> investigate the specs and visit as a follow up. What
> could the true problem be 
> here? My guess that it has to do with voicing. (38mm
> and up off the action 
> bracket, doesn't seem right and scares me.) Thanks
> for expertise in advance. 
> 
>             (By the way, this was a call from the
> piano dealer, for their 
> first free tuning and to look art this pedal's
> problem under warranty.) 
> 
> rookie,
> Julia Gottchall, 
> Reading, PA 
> 


=====
Ryan Sowers, RPT  Puget Sound Chapter
Pianova Piano Service
Olympia, WA

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