Steinway Sostenuto

[Ric Brekne]

Hi Gene.

Took me a while to figure out the Sostenuto as well.  But if you stop 
and think about what is actually possible a good routine for adjustment 
pops right out at you.  Course a bit depends on what kind of Sostenuto 
system you are adjusting.  But essentially... the  thing needs to be 
positioned such that

1:  when you play without, the tabs just zip on by unnoticed by the bar
2:  when you press the pedal the rotates to prevent the tab from falling 
below it.
3:  when the pedal is pressed, all notes that havent yet been played 
will be able to be played as usual, without their tabs going through the 
lip of the bar and getting hung up there.

So..... that implies a few things...

1:  the lip of the bar needs to rotate so that it is perpendicular to 
the damper wire. That extends it as far out on its rotational axis 
towards the tabs as its possible.
2:  the bar needs to be at the optimum height and distance (up/down and 
in/out) relative to the tabs.
3:  the travel of the bar must be sufficient to rotate it far enough 
down when the pedal is released to get the lip out of the way.

Course.. the dampers have to be properly regulated to begin with..or you 
might have to compensate depending on the situation.

So... the lip is regulated to 45 degrees at the rest position to start 
with. Then travel is regulated so the pedal rotates the bar to the 
horizontal position and no further/no less.  That done... the up down 
positioning can be accomplished.  The lip should be at the middle of the 
tabs when in the horizontal (pedal depressed) position.  Finally do the 
distance positioning. When the pedal is at rest... the lip should be 
about 1.5 - 2 mm away from the tabs.

If the bar is thus regulated, then any problems are related to the tabs 
themselves. And there could be lots of reasons.  Somebody could have 
improperly bent out a damper wire in some attempt to get that damper to 
work better.  The tab itself could be bad, the dampers might be out of 
whack in general.... Typical troubleshooting yes ?  If you know the bar 
is right.. then its something else.  Look for evenness in height and 
lateral positioning of the tabs.. and make sure they all stick out at 
the same angle. Check damper regulation...  etc.

Hope this helps.  I am sure if I missed anything it will be supplied by 
some of the other good people here.

Cheers
RicB
---------

My problem with the sostenuto was that dampers would skip past the blade 
when pedal is fully depressed with fff blow.I had to adjust the blade to 
a bit more than 45 deg to make it ok in this respect. What did I miss? I 
made my own version of the Steinway tool and it works ok for getting the 
blade the same height as the tabs.
Did not have a problem with anything else. Any advice would be apperciated.

Gene Nelson