I appreciated Spencer's clarification.  Obviously I'm defensive about
"my company".  I also appreciate Robbie's pointing out that Frank Milne
was one of the pluses Aeolian brought to American in the merger, not
vice-versa.  I rather like the way Milne sometimes lifts the sustaining
pedal late in a chord to make the piano "bloom".  I wonder if some of
the peculiar pedaling sometimes experienced after the merger is due to
a need to make allowances for the lethargic operation of the Ampico
sustaining pedal.  I can't answer that one.

I also like how Aeolian (Milne?) uses a single perf sustain hole in the
roll to effectively double the volume output options available without
actually creating a sustain effect, which brings me to a technical
question:

I am bothered by the slowness of the sustaining pedal on my Pedal/Electric
shop upright.  True, I don't give it the time I do the living room
grand (7.5 Steinway, L.P. spoolbox, fan system).  But then, I have had
many uprights over the years, and this seems to be a problem that even
three cross valves doesn't quite address.

I would be interested in thoughts about making the upright approach the
ability of the grand to use one single sustain perforation in the roll
to remove the damper spring weight and thus alter the strike power at
time of strike without actually creating a sustain effect.  I have seen
single sustain perfs used effectively, and am satisfied at the results
when I have used it in rolls I've coded.

As an aside, the valve travel in my grand is extremely small because
the return of the dampers can be too swift and thus noisy.  One thin
shim on one of the valves makes all the difference.  I would like that
kind of opportunity to set the speed in my uprights.

Bruce Grimes