piano foot pedal repair

[Bill Carey]

My neighbor came over with a couple of pieces of her piano and asked me to see if I could repair it. The connection between the foot pedal box and the legs that attach to the underside of the piano broke. Seemed pretty straight forward: drill out the old 1" dowel and glue in the new. When I took it apart I noticed that the dowel that attaches the leg to the pedal box is tapered. It enters the box at 1" and is wedged on the inside at 3/4". So a tapered dowel. That seems weird to me, and it seems like it would be weaker that a full 1" dowel wedged. The dowel material left in the legs is very solid and as you can see in one of the pics I've made a guide block to drill them out. Now I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to clean off the top of the pedal box and attach it to the legs with bolts and fender washers and a skosh of epoxy. Of course being tone deaf I have no idea if any of this will affect the playing quality of the piano. I can't imagine it will - however I have often been wrong. (I have that on good authority from the lovely SWMBO).

Suggestions, comments, wild ideas and sarcastic remarks are all welcome.

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[John K Jordan]

I can't answer your attachment question (ask a piano technician) but the pedal box won't affect the sound of the piano. However, the pedal height and action is critical - I wouldn't want a pedal that was at a different height from the floor or needed to be depressed more or less than before. Of course I've been playing the same grand piano nearly every day for 38 years so I might be too critical - someone who didn't play much might not be so picky. The linkage rods on mine are adjustable so some of the pedal action should be adjustable. If the pedals don't lift and lower the dampers enough they can touch the strings and the sound will certainly be compromised, probably severely.

Also, on the grand pianos I'm familiar with the box should clear the floor by 1/2" or so.
It looks like the felts that soften the impact of the metal with the wood need to be replaced.

Since things broke, make sure the angled braces, that go between the depressions on the top of the box and the underside of the piano, are in good shape. These keep the box and support "legs" from being pushed back during vigorous footwork. If they were missing it might explain why the joint broke and might break again, there or above.

When reinstalling, you might also lubricate the moving parts. We use powdered graphite.
I might polish the brass pedals too.

Again, I'm no expert - just a player with some small experience with repairs, minor tuning, and adjustments. If the piano is valuable, it would be worth it to get a piano technician to take a look and advise.


JKJ

[Bill Carey]

Thanks John - really appreciate the info. The piano is not particularly valuable in and of itself, but the emotional value is pretty high. It's been in their family for, I'm told, over a hundred years. And as far as hiring a piano technician, I don't think there are resources for that, other than a tuning. Which is why I'm glad to help her out with a little bartering. She is the most talented painter and wall paper hanger I've ever seen in 40 years in construction. So we get our bedroom painted and the oriental wallpaper is FINALLY going away.

She was going to get it tuned without the pedals. Would have been a shame. The height of the pedal box will be the same as it was originally. None of the parts were changed dimensionaly - I only cleaned up the ends of the "legs" and plan on doing the same to the remains of the connection at the pedal box. If I have clearance in the box for a lag screw head I think I'm gonna go with that, because as far as I know the angled braces you refer to are missing, and I think a mechanical connection will be stronger. Especially if I can get a long screw into the meat of the leg past the dowel.

I finally found some schematics of pianos. Turns out it isn't a pedal box but a lyre, which has lyre braces. The braces appear to be fastened to the underside of the carriage, and simply are captured by the depressions you refereed to. Is this consistent with your piano? Are the braces metal or wood? I'm guessing metal. If I can I would like to make these for her. If you can find the time for a few pics of the braces on your piano and the connections at the top it would be great.

I planned on replacing the felt because there were pieces missing under 2 of the pedals, and the existing felt is pretty hard. And yes, the tops of the rods are adjustable. I'll leave that adjustment work for the tuner.

Again, thanks for the help. For some reason I thought it might be you I heard from.

[John K Jordan]

...I finally found some schematics of pianos. Turns out it isn't a pedal box but a lyre, which has lyre braces. The braces appear to be fastened to the underside of the carriage, and simply are captured by the depressions you refereed to. Is this consistent with your piano? Are the braces metal or wood? I'm guessing metal. If I can I would like to make these for her. If you can find the time for a few pics of the braces on your piano and the connections at the top it would be great.

Thanks for the correct name for the thing.

The braces on my Baldwin are made of wood. They are straight rods with smoothly tapered from small enough to fit into the depressions on both ends to perhaps about an inch diameter in the middle. They are not glued or fastened in any way but just sit in the depressions, one is tight and the other a little looser so I can rotate it with my fingers.

It's dark under there so I couldn't get a good photo but here is one artificially lightened to that might show the idea. Whatever you do, don't tell My Lovely Bride that I sent a picture that shows my pile of books on the floor! Yikes.

piano_pedal_brace.jpg

I think any kind of a brace would be better than none and help the joints at both the top and bottom survive. If you don't have a lathe they could even be a wooden dowel, perhaps a 3/4 or 1" dowel whittled down just on the ends. Even a square brace would work.

JKJ

[Bill Carey]

Thanks for the correct name for the thing.

Whatever you do, don't tell My Lovely Bride that I sent a picture that shows my pile of books on the floor! Yikes.

JKJ

I would never throw you under the bus. I have the same problem with books. Our new house came with about 30 3-shelf bookcases and I still have boxes of books in the basement that I don't have room for. And when I finish this repair I'll post a couple of pics. Thanks for your help.

[Tom M King]

Speaking of stacks of books, I have a good friend who won the Nobel Prize for Physics a while back. They have stacks of thousands of books all over their house, with some stacks over 4 feet high. They don't own a TV, and are fast readers. He's been after me to come build bookshelves for years, because they would be embarrassed for anyone they don't know well to come into their house, and see that they have more books than furniture. They live a little too far away for me to go work there though.

[Tom M King]

Feeling under that same assembly on the Steinway, there are no holes of any type, so it must be assembled in a similar way. I would probably also use hardware to make the repair.