Pianotech

Good Day everyone!

I have a customer with a late 90's Mason Hamlin Vertical with a sostenuto.   I've regulated sostenutos many times on grands, but this is the first for me on a vertical.   It's a Renner action, and it uses a grand-style sostenuto rod, which should catch a felted tab on the damper, right behind where the damper wire leaves the damper lever, directly above the damper spring.

It seems like a very delicate system, and there is not much wiggle room (literally, as the sostenuto tabs are rigid!).    

Does anyone have any references on the best operating procedure for regulating these systems?  Or any tips and tricks that might help?  

Thanks in advance!

Hi Tom:

I don't have direct experience with this particular action, but if it's like a grand action, the regulation procedure should be the same.  The tabs should be showing just below the rod, and the rod needs to be adjusted close enough to the damper blocks to work and not interfere or touch the damper blocks when you press the pedal.  Should be straightforward.  The particulars of how you make the adjustment of the rod position should be easy to find.  Does it not work now?

For other reasons, the sostenuto had gone completely removed to make repairs on the damper lift rod, so I'm starting from scratch, unfortunately.  It seems rod position was done by adding paper punching behind the rod brackets, as they are made of steel and are not easy to bend (like the brass ones I'm used to in Steinways). I'll Plug away at it, I'm sure I can figure it out, but any shortcuts to the solutions would be. I've too!

You could reach out to Mason Hamlin support.

Also, you could email Jerry Reiersen at jreiersen@sbcglobal.net and see if he would be willing to chat on a phone call. Jerry fit actions to the Model 50 for several years. I think he would be happy to give you some guidance.