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[Welcome to our first post of 2009. Hoping you all had a safe and restful holiday and are looking forward to whatever blessings God has in store for you in the coming year.]
Why Are My Piano’s Pedals Loose? Can I Do Anything About It?
“Dad, I don’t know what’s going on, but when I push down on the loud pedal, nothing happens. Can you fix it?” This conversation doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. While I was working on pianos professionally, I used to get several calls a month where this was the primary problem. I also would tune maybe 6-10 pianos per month where this was an additional service issue.
This procedure was never a big profit center for me. I would charge a small charge if the pedal was the only reason for my visit, but would sometimes throw the adjustment in for free if it was in addition to a tuning (many people had to squeeze a tuning into their tight budgets and this pedal issue would prompt them to call me sooner than otherwise). While I never declined these calls, I realized early on that I disliked doing this procedure for one reason – I am big. I am 6 feet tall, and while most people (including medical professionals) guess my weight at around 250 pounds my actual weight slightly exceeds 300 (25 years of “wrestling pianos” developed some bulk). For this reason, I was usually willing to talk a smaller adult through the procedure if the person struck me as having a basic level of mechanical aptitude. A few times I even talked a customer through this over the phone.
(Disclaimer: The procedure described here is for vertical pianos only. The procedure for grands is more complex.)
Look at the picture above. This is approximately what you would see when you open the panel under the keyboard. There will be some variations from brand to brand but I will try to cover the most common ones. Warning: As you go into this procedure., be sure you understand how things go together so that you will be able to re-assemble them when you are finished. If you encounter anything radically different from the picture above, STOP and call your technician. Your piano is beyond the scope of this post, and if you proceed you will probably end up owing your technician quite a bit more money than you would have otherwise!!!
The Steps
1. Remove the knee panel. This is the vertical panel under the keyboard. In most cases, this will be held in place by a leaf spring at the top. Press up on the spring as you swing the panel out at the top, then lift it clear of the piano. (Alternate: If there is no spring, there will probably be 1 or 2 wooden stops that might have to be unscrewed and removed.) Prior to lifting it out, study how the bottom of the panel fits in. Most likely will be either a couple of pegs with corresponding holes or a rabbet and slot. Knowing this now will make re-assembly much easier.
2. Study the pedal setup as you find it. The far right pedal will be the damper, or sustain, pedal. The far left will be the soft pedal. The center pedal, if there is one, will be what varies. It could just duplicate the soft pedal, it could lift the dampers for only the bass section, or it could be what is known as a practice pedal (lowers a felt strip between the hammers and strings, lowering volume 60-70%). The only one of those 3 that has any real value is the practice pedal, and in my opinion that only applies for apartment dwellers, families with infants where practice time and nap time might coincide, and really bad pianists who choose to be considerate of those around them. Those with differing opinions are invited to leave comments.
3. Starting with the damper pedal, examine the mechanism. Make sure that the screws that connect the pedal to the bottom panel are tight. There should be a bolt running through the pedal and the crossbeam, with a bushing, probably felt or rubber, and a nut or wing nut on top. Follow the crossbeam (could also be a metal bar) to the side. It might go to the right or left. At the wall end of the beam there should be a vertical rod or dowel, which connects the pedal mechanism to the piano’s action. Repeat the process with the soft pedal.
4. Assuming that the entire mechanism is there (if not, stop and call your technician), what you have to do now is tighten the nut on each pedal until most of the slack is removed. (You might need to hold down the crossbeam and grip the bolt with a pair of pliers as you tighten the nut.) On both pedals, tighten a little and test. For the damper pedal, you are done when all dampers seat with the pedal up but start lifting when you have pressed the pedal approximately ½ inch. If there is any ringing when the pedal is totally released (except the highest strings that have no dampers) then the nut is too tight. For the soft pedal, have all the hammers resting on the hammer rail when the pedal is up and still far enough from the strings that each note will still play when the pedal is fully depressed.
Following these instructions, unless there has been a mechanical failure, should get your two main pedals back to usable. Hope this helps. As always your comments and questions are welcomed.
Photo Credit, Kreslava
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