Pianotech

I'm not sure about your scenario, but regarding the Acrosonic action the bridal strap wires are unique.  They don't have the usual triangle on the end, but instead are sort of like a curly-cue.  With these wires, the bridal strap can slide down and cause problems.  The bridal strap becomes too tight.  I usually put a small amount of white glue or Eileen's Tacky Glue on the wire and the strap to prevent it from sliding down again.  I just did this on an Acrosonic last week.  It's confusing, since you can't see the bridal strap because the wooden sticker is in the way.  You have to remove the sticker.  It's actually easy to do this.  Where the wippen and sticker meet, you can separate the two by pushing up the wippen while holding down the sticker from the top.  The whippen and the sticker are pinned together, but the pin has red felt around it.  The felt covered pin then slides into a slot in the end of the whippen.  Hard to describe without a photo, sorry i don't have one.  The sticker has room for the whippen to move upwards in the window, thus allowing you to push it up and separate the sticker and whippen.  Once you've separated the parts, you can remove the sticker and have access to the bridal strap and other action parts (jack spring).

Again, I'm not sure if this is your problem exactly, but if nothing seems to work properly and you've tried everything you can think of, I'll bet this is your problem.

YMMV.

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Paul McCloud, RPT
Accutone Piano Service
www.AccutonePianoService.com
pavadasa@gmail.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2025 23:08
From: Mary Kavan
Subject: Sustain pedal

Today I had a new client call and tell me a key would go down slightly and not return like it should when she double hit it but only when she used the sustain pedal on her 55-year- old Baldwin acrosonic piano. When she didn't use the sustain pedal, the key played like it should. Would too tight of a bridal strap cause this issue? Any suggestions would be welcome! Thank you! 

Mary Kavan, PT

Probably the reason it returns without the sustain pedal is because the action is getting the added benefit of the damper springs. Those drop actions, besides having extra parts (added friction) also have very short unweighted keys. After decades of wear a lot of extra friction can be generated by loose parts such as worn balance rail bushings and the "lift finger guide rail" bushings if the piano is old enough to have one. If it's a little newer, it might have the corfam buckskin substitute on the catchers and hammer butts and those can cause problems too.

All things considered, it might be best to fix the symptom rather than the source as that might change from note to note or more likely be a combination of poor design and wear. This can be done by simply adding minimal weight to the back of the keys. Maybe 1/2 a jiffy weight. 

Actually, if you're lucky, the problem might be not be too tight bridles but that the straps have broken and so not giving the added weight of the whippen  to the hammer return. Not that replacing them on a drop action is a lot of fun but it is a bit simpler and you can access them in the manner Paul describes. 

Also check and make sure the hammer return springs aren't out of place and rubbing on the hammer shanks.

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Steven Rosenthal RPT
Honolulu HI
(808) 521-7129
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2025 23:55
From: Paul McCloud
Subject: Sustain pedal

I'm not sure about your scenario, but regarding the Acrosonic action the bridal strap wires are unique.  They don't have the usual triangle on the end, but instead are sort of like a curly-cue.  With these wires, the bridal strap can slide down and cause problems.  The bridal strap becomes too tight.  I usually put a small amount of white glue or Eileen's Tacky Glue on the wire and the strap to prevent it from sliding down again.  I just did this on an Acrosonic last week.  It's confusing, since you can't see the bridal strap because the wooden sticker is in the way.  You have to remove the sticker.  It's actually easy to do this.  Where the wippen and sticker meet, you can separate the two by pushing up the wippen while holding down the sticker from the top.  The whippen and the sticker are pinned together, but the pin has red felt around it.  The felt covered pin then slides into a slot in the end of the whippen.  Hard to describe without a photo, sorry i don't have one.  The sticker has room for the whippen to move upwards in the window, thus allowing you to push it up and separate the sticker and whippen.  Once you've separated the parts, you can remove the sticker and have access to the bridal strap and other action parts (jack spring).

Again, I'm not sure if this is your problem exactly, but if nothing seems to work properly and you've tried everything you can think of, I'll bet this is your problem.

YMMV.

------------------------------
Paul McCloud, RPT
Accutone Piano Service
www.AccutonePianoService.com
pavadasa@gmail.com

Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2025 23:08
From: Mary Kavan
Subject: Sustain pedal

Today I had a new client call and tell me a key would go down slightly and not return like it should when she double hit it but only when she used the sustain pedal on her 55-year- old Baldwin acrosonic piano. When she didn't use the sustain pedal, the key played like it should. Would too tight of a bridal strap cause this issue? Any suggestions would be welcome! Thank you! 

Mary Kavan, PT

Original Message:
Sent: 4/7/2025 11:56:00 PM
From: Paul McCloud
Subject: RE: Sustain pedal

I'm not sure about your scenario, but regarding the Acrosonic action the bridal strap wires are unique.  They don't have the usual triangle on the end, but instead are sort of like a curly-cue.  With these wires, the bridal strap can slide down and cause problems.  The bridal strap becomes too tight.  I usually put a small amount of white glue or Eileen's Tacky Glue on the wire and the strap to prevent it from sliding down again.  I just did this on an Acrosonic last week.  It's confusing, since you can't see the bridal strap because the wooden sticker is in the way.  You have to remove the sticker.  It's actually easy to do this.  Where the wippen and sticker meet, you can separate the two by pushing up the wippen while holding down the sticker from the top.  The whippen and the sticker are pinned together, but the pin has red felt around it.  The felt covered pin then slides into a slot in the end of the whippen.  Hard to describe without a photo, sorry i don't have one.  The sticker has room for the whippen to move upwards in the window, thus allowing you to push it up and separate the sticker and whippen.  Once you've separated the parts, you can remove the sticker and have access to the bridal strap and other action parts (jack spring).

Again, I'm not sure if this is your problem exactly, but if nothing seems to work properly and you've tried everything you can think of, I'll bet this is your problem.

YMMV.

------------------------------
Paul McCloud, RPT
Accutone Piano Service
www.AccutonePianoService.com
pavadasa@gmail.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2025 23:08
From: Mary Kavan
Subject: Sustain pedal

Today I had a new client call and tell me a key would go down slightly and not return like it should when she double hit it but only when she used the sustain pedal on her 55-year- old Baldwin acrosonic piano. When she didn't use the sustain pedal, the key played like it should. Would too tight of a bridal strap cause this issue? Any suggestions would be welcome! Thank you! 

Mary Kavan, PT

I’ve found that on some uprights, the whippen spoon has dug into the damper lever felt leaving a concave hole. The spoon gets hung up on the felt. When you step on the pedal, it releases the whippen. The only way to fix is to pull the action and replace the felts. Sometimes you can remove the damper lever felt with a razor blade, turn it around and reglue it so that the whippen spoon has a fresh surface to slide on.
Sent from my iPhone


Original Message:
Sent: 4/8/2025 9:23:00 AM
From: Lucinda Strehlow
Subject: RE: Sustain pedal

Mary,

 It happens when the sustain pedal is engaged because the dampers/springs are no longer giving the whippens a boost. Without that, any number of friction or action adjustment issues could then cause the hammer to be slow returning. Sluggish centers, not enough lost motion, weak jack spring, etc. I just had that issue, and it turned out to be the front key bushing, very tight at the very end of the stroke, very loose everywhere but there. Previous techs had tried everything else, a lot.

Cindy Strehlow RPT

Original Message:
Sent: 4/7/2025 11:56:00 PM
From: Paul McCloud
Subject: RE: Sustain pedal

I'm not sure about your scenario, but regarding the Acrosonic action the bridal strap wires are unique.  They don't have the usual triangle on the end, but instead are sort of like a curly-cue.  With these wires, the bridal strap can slide down and cause problems.  The bridal strap becomes too tight.  I usually put a small amount of white glue or Eileen's Tacky Glue on the wire and the strap to prevent it from sliding down again.  I just did this on an Acrosonic last week.  It's confusing, since you can't see the bridal strap because the wooden sticker is in the way.  You have to remove the sticker.  It's actually easy to do this.  Where the wippen and sticker meet, you can separate the two by pushing up the wippen while holding down the sticker from the top.  The whippen and the sticker are pinned together, but the pin has red felt around it.  The felt covered pin then slides into a slot in the end of the whippen.  Hard to describe without a photo, sorry i don't have one.  The sticker has room for the whippen to move upwards in the window, thus allowing you to push it up and separate the sticker and whippen.  Once you've separated the parts, you can remove the sticker and have access to the bridal strap and other action parts (jack spring).

Again, I'm not sure if this is your problem exactly, but if nothing seems to work properly and you've tried everything you can think of, I'll bet this is your problem.

YMMV.

------------------------------
Paul McCloud, RPT
Accutone Piano Service
www.AccutonePianoService.com
pavadasa@gmail.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2025 23:08
From: Mary Kavan
Subject: Sustain pedal

Today I had a new client call and tell me a key would go down slightly and not return like it should when she double hit it but only when she used the sustain pedal on her 55-year- old Baldwin acrosonic piano. When she didn't use the sustain pedal, the key played like it should. Would too tight of a bridal strap cause this issue? Any suggestions would be welcome! Thank you! 

Mary Kavan, PT

Hi Mary,

I've seen this quite a few times before. It seems to be a fairly common issue in my region. Nine out of ten times the main cause is friction in the key itself, either in the front bushing or the balance rail hole.

What I've observed is that there's just slightly too much friction somewhere on the key. It's not enough that it causes problems when the dampers are down, but when the weight of the dampers is lifted up, the friction is just enough to cause an issue. Easing one of those two spots will usually solve your problem.

One out of ten times the issue will be related to the jack - either friction or the jack is too high due to the capstan working its way up. Turning the capstan back down or treating the friction using Protek seems to work well for me.

I hope this helps you figure out what's going on! Please keep us informed. Good luck!

------------------------------
Benjamin Sanchez, RPT
Piano Technician / Artisan
(256) 947-9999
www.professional-piano-services.com
www.FromZeroToSixFiguresBook.com
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2025 23:08
From: Mary Kavan
Subject: Sustain pedal

Today I had a new client call and tell me a key would go down slightly and not return like it should when she double hit it but only when she used the sustain pedal on her 55-year- old Baldwin acrosonic piano. When she didn't use the sustain pedal, the key played like it should. Would too tight of a bridal strap cause this issue? Any suggestions would be welcome! Thank you! 

Mary Kavan, PT

As others have observed, if it is an older instrument (spinets or even old Baldwin Hamiltons) it may be the bridle strap sliding down the wire that lacks the necessary "curlycue". But there are many more contributing factors. 

Baldwins vertcals frequently had key bushings that are too long/deep, which causes friction that isn't eliminated by even extensive key easing (by pliers or ironing). A one can use a chisel blade Xacto knife to trim the excess length, followed by ironing. 

Flange bushing friction often is quite high, and things are especially sluggish when the hammer, wippen, and jack flanges' friction is exceedingly high. This requires either reaming & repinning these flanges (on a case by case basis), or trying various "magic elixirs" on the flanges' bushings. Sometimes ProTek works in the short term (results are nearly instant), but usually soaking the bushings felts with an alcohol-water solution, followed by complete drying works better. Some technicians have had great results using the cleaner Fantastic instead (there is a good article on the Piano Technicians Journal on this procedure.

And, as others have noted, the black or tan corfam buckskin substitutes for catchers and and hammer butts have their own set of problems.

And of course the spinets with rubber donuts (connectors between the key forks and abstract wires) usually need those replaced too.

Lots of labor that the technician should be well compensated for! 

------------------------------
Patrick Draine RPT
Billerica MA
(978) 663-9690
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2025 23:08
From: Mary Kavan
Subject: Sustain pedal

Today I had a new client call and tell me a key would go down slightly and not return like it should when she double hit it but only when she used the sustain pedal on her 55-year- old Baldwin acrosonic piano. When she didn't use the sustain pedal, the key played like it should. Would too tight of a bridal strap cause this issue? Any suggestions would be welcome! Thank you! 

Mary Kavan, PT