Regarding Ana Gerard's posting of 11-18-00 about the Weber Duo-Art
grand:  This really prompts a question from me.  I know one cannot
say "never" or "always" about Duo-Art pianos, but it seems more than
unusual that a Weber wouldn't have una corda or a true sostenuto.
It could be that the sostenuto is there but out of adjustment.

About the una corda:  I've noticed that many Duo-Art grands having the
tracker bar tubing passing through the keybed have their una corda soft
pedal locked up tight; it won't move even if the tracker bar tubing has
been replaced and is flexible.  I've come across others with stiff and
sluggish una corda actions.  Yet, instruments where the piano and the
player were totally restored by an expert rebuilder have una corda
pedals that operate perfectly.  I've never come across this on a
non-player grand, or really on a non-Duo-Art.

The question:  Why does the una corda get where it doesn't work
right on so many Duo-Art grands?  I'd think that a percentage of the
locked-tight una corda actions could be explained by assuming that
there'd always be a few tuners that would locked up the una corda on
an aging Duo-Art grand to keep from being called back to fix brittle
tracker bar tubing that the shifting of the piano action would snap.
This doesn't, however, explain a sluggish response.

Regards,
Dick Merchant
Carlsbad, NM