I have a customer with a lovely, fairly new, German full upright piano. I tuned it the other day and she asked me to look at the soft pedal because it didn’t seem to be working. I took a look at it and saw that the rod between the lower trap work and the action was out of place. I put it back in place and observed that it worked like an upright soft pedal works. I adjusted the small bit of play in the pedal and observed that when the pedal was fully depressed, the hammer line advanced about half way from their rest position toward the strings.
The customer then sat down and played the piano and worked the soft pedal. She then told me that it did not seem to be working. I looked at it again and saw that the hammers were advancing about half way toward the strings when the pedal was depressed. I said that it seemed to be working as intended. She tried it a few more times and said that nothing happened when she used the soft pedal.
We then had a discussion regarding how an upright soft pedal system works and how it is fundamentally different from a soft pedal system on a grand piano. I also told her that when adjusted properly, the soft pedal on a grand works quite well and definitely helps to produce a softer tone. However, on an upright piano, it is rather ineffective. It may make it a little bit easier to play softly, but the effect is not very noticeable.
So, she and I find ourselves in a bit of a quandry. Her position is that the soft pedal worked effectively in the past but does not work now. My position is that the soft pedal system on her piano, as is the case on almost all uprights, functions as intended, although, like most uprights, is not very effective. She feels that a good piano technician should be able to make her soft pedal work effectively. I feel that I’ve done all any piano technician can do and that the ineffective performance of her soft pedal is inherent to the design of hers and most every other upright.
Thoughts? I would appreciate any helpful/constructive comments.
Terry Farrell