Has anyone had a problem like this with a piano like mine?  I have
a 1911 Steinway upright with the Aeolian Themodist, 88/65-note dual
tracker bar.  The instrument has been well maintained and has recently
been completely restrung.  It also has been worked on just this past
week to replace most of the hoses and tubing.  The system is tighter
than it's ever been in the 35 years I've had the piano.

But a problem remains.  For the past couple of years, the action of the
sustain pedal (damper pedal, some say) has been erratic, and it still
is. I spoke about it with the excellent technician who did the most
recent work.  I pointed out that the sustain pedal lever (down on the
bass side beneath the keys) tends to move over to the right and often
stay there regardless of whether the "pedal" selector (to the left of
the roll and just under the "Themodist" selector) is "on" or "off" and
regardless of whether the pedal hole on the left margin of the roll is
open or closed.  The result is smooshed notes, blurring, lost phrasing,
etc.

I wondered whether the sustaining pedal mechanism was supposed to have
a spring connected to it, such as the top or stack, bottom of
stack, soft pedal do.  But there seems to be no place for any spring.

After the technician left, I've played a lot of rolls, some of them
just 88-note, and some with the expression holes (Themodist and
Duo-Art).  Sometimes I have the Themodist on, sometimes off, sometimes
"pedal" on, sometimes off.  The result seems to be the same: notes stay
nicely defined until passages in about the octave below middle C figure
heavily in the mix.  Then the sonic floodgates open.  It doesn't even
stop immediately if I push the pedal lever back to the left.

Does any of this make any sense?  What might be happening?  Thanks for
your suggestions.

Paul Murphy

 [ My 1917 Themodist has a similar problem that I believe is the result
 [ of leaking at the pedal "on-off" selector switch, possibly aggravated
 [ by a porous primary valve pouch.  -- Robbie