This topic interests me greatly!
I had a customer whose right leg could not operate the damper pedal. She bought a Bosendorfer concert grand and they made a special four pedal lyre. The far left fourth pedal was connected by metal braces that connected it and the right pedal together. So both pedals worked in "unison". The connectors were machined from brass and were a very elongated U-shaped with the U allowing the connectors to pass around the other rods.
But, I have long thought the standard pedal arrangement is faulty. The shift pedal must pass around the other two pedals and since the shift must be towards the treble direction to avoid allowing the action to bounce on the return spring during shipping, one can't just shift the action to the left. (Some very old Steinway grands did shift to the left).
With the right pedal as shift, the point of engagement with the keyframe would be placed very close to the same point the return spring operates which would reduce the tendency to "skew" the action which wears the action guides. Plus having the damper pedal on the left would position the pitman more towards the center of gravity of the damper underlever system.
The times I played my customers Bose with the modified pedal and used my left foot for damping were uneventful. I adjusted in less than a couple of minutes. My wife thinks this is nuts but she never tried the Bose.
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Edward McMorrow
Edmonds WA
425-299-3431
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-17-2017 16:08
From: Paul Brown
Subject: pedals
David,
You already have the best answers about switching the sustain pedal, but I encountered a nightmare situation with clients arriving from the airport in 1 hour.
The pedal lever broke a second time after welding. I've attached a photo (that doesn't include the repair. I'll have to get a photo next time I visit). The only thing I could think of - on the spot - was to take the sustain pedal off line and switch the damper pedal rod to the soft pedal position.
I asked the young grade 10 level player if he could use it with his left foot until I had time to repair it.
He said it worked great!
I can always sense a problem with the sustain pedal nylon inserts/pedal lever weld when the damper rod starts lifting at a slight angle and not vertically. BTW, nylon pedal bracket inserts are no longer available as far as I know.
Paul.
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Paul Brown, RPT
President
Piano Technicians Guild
Vancouver, BC Canada
Email: pres@ptg.org
Original Message:
Sent: 12-17-2017 15:47
From: Ed Sutton
Subject: pedals
Make a rather long lever that goes out at a diagonal to the left. The left end of the lever rests on the floor, the right end is attached to the damper pedal. Might be possible to play the damper with the left heel and the una corda with the toe. This could be portable, able to be attached to other pianos,
More extreme: Remove the lyre and make a long trap lever that can be played with the knee, a la fortepianos.
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Ed Sutton
ed440@me.com
(980) 254-7413
Original Message:
Sent: 12-17-2017 13:51
From: David Love
Subject: pedals
Anyone have any brilliant ideas on how to rig the pedals so that the sustain pedal can be operated with the left foot without reaching across to the right pedal? Have a customer with a bad right leg. Steinway
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David Love RPT
www.davidlovepianos.com
davidlovepianos@comcast.net
415 407 8320
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