As I understood it, the PianoDisc Adaptor consisted of their standard pedal solenoid and power supply. You were on your own to come up with a switching device. If this is the case, why not just buy the solenoid and power supply independently, and make you own "Adaptor." Maybe they expanded to offering a switching device since my last inquiry; I don't know. That's the larger problem, coming up with a human interface to meet the needs of the disabled pianist. Years ago, before there was a PianoDisc, I made a device for an amputee, using a Pianocorder solenoid and power supply. There was a write-up about it in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and later in a journal for disabled persons. I modified a computer "joystick," and mounted it on the piano bench. In my case, the customer had the use and control of her thigh to operate the joystick. It worked well for her, but it would have been better if there had been some tactile feedback, to know by the feel of it, when/if the pedal is engaged or not. Frank Emerson ----- Original Message ----- From: Michiel van Loon To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sunday, October 04, 2009 3:33 PM Subject: [pianotech] Piano Disc Pedal Adaptor for the handicapped pianist Dear colleagues, In the last few years I have installed several Piano Disc Pedal Adaptors for disabled pianists. See http://www.pianoman.nl/piano/pedaladapter/pedaalaanpassing.htm Last week I got 2 requests. One request coming from a potential customer, here in the Netherlands, who can not use his legs. I inquired at Piano Disc - Europe if they still can provide me with such a system. The answer was: Dear Mr. Van Loon, I'm sorry to inform you that the product you are looking for has been discontinued. I hope I can be of more help next time and please feel free to contact me if you need any additional information. Sincerely -- Andreas Duetz Managing Director EuropeWell, I thought, or maybe I really said "Sh...." But that same week I got a request from a disabled pianist in Wisconsin, who had read about my doings with Pedal Adaptors. He asked me if the Pedal Adaptor was also available in the USA. Sure, I replied, its an US product, you can find the Piano Disc contact information at their website. This Wisconsin person sent me a message in return: Dear Mr. van Loon: Thank you for the response. I've spoken to representatives from PianoDisc by phone and was told that their Pedal Adaptor has been discontinued and that a new replacement product launch is months away at best. This raises my original question, which is whether your system -- or another one I haven't heard of yet -- is available through piano technicians here in the U.S? If you know a technician in Wisconsin or elsewhere in the U.S. that I could contact about this, please let me know. Thanks again. Sincerely, K. My question to you, dear friends, is, does anyone know more about the progress PianoDisk is making with the new version of the PedalAdaptor? And can anyone answer Mr K's question? And/Or has anyone a Pedal Adaptor in stock? -- Vriendelijk groeten, Michiel van Loon -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091004/153b53ba/attachment.htm>
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