Why 3 Pedals Are “2 Much” On An Upright – Part 2

The far left pedal on almost all uprights should never be used, shouldn’t even be there. Chop it off and throw it away (some piano manufacturers, thankfully, did that for you, and their uprights feature only 2 pedals.) You see, this pedal tries to simulate the "softening" of the notes as the far left pedal on a grand, even though we already clarified (two posts ago) that the left pedal on the grand is not a "soft pedal," it’s the una corda pedal, not to be used for playing softer. So the left pedal on the upright is trying to simulate an action that shouldn’t even exist on a grand! Huh?

Worse is how it tries to do it. You see, when you push the left pedal down on a grand, the whole keyboard shifts to the right a bit, allowing the hammers to move over and only strike 1 or 2 of the strings where they wold normally strike 2 or 3. It can do this because in a grand the keyboard floats loosely in the piano, and is not bolted down. In an upright, the keyboard is bolted down and immovable, so all the hammers will continue to strike all 2 or 3 strings they always strike. So what did these misguided makers do instead, to try to achieve a softer tone? They put in a wooden rod, worked up & down by the left pedal, that pushes all the hammers about half-way closer to the strings than their normal rest position.

Usually, when you strike an upright key, the hammer travel about 1^3/4" from rest position to the string. Pressing down the left pedal shortens this distance by about half, so the hammer need only go forward about 7/8" before making contact with the string. Less travel or "blow" equals a softer contact and sound, right? Not really. Try it. Hit any key without the left pedal and listen to the volume you get from that note. Now press down the left pedal, and hit the key again with exactly the same amount of force. Pretty much the same volume, right? I defy you to hear much difference. That alone would render it a useless pedal.

But the real problem is that, in lifting all the hammers closer to the strings, the left pedal has effectively thrown all the keys’ touch completely out of regulation, and introduced a gaping empty air-space of lost motion between your finger and making contact with the hammer. Slowly press down any key without the left pedal; feel the firm weight & contact against your finger. Now press the left pedal down, and slowly push down the same key. But wait…whoa! there’s nothing there, no weight, no contact until, ahh, there it is! Only after you’ve pushed the key about 1/4"-1/2" down, can you finally feel the weight of the hammer against your finger. Introducing this severe amount of "lost motion," or no contact between your finger and the hammer (and thus no dynamic control,) all for a pedal that barely achieves its function anyway (softening the volume) was the stupidest invention ever on any size piano. Aaarrggh!

There were a few manufacturers in the early 20th century who added an expensive extra mechanism and set of wooden flanges called a "lost-motion regulator" – A.B. Chase and Vose & Sons pianos had them – but they’re hard to find on any upright piano now, and remember, this upright soft pedal doesn’t really make the notes softer anyway, so once again, aaarrggh…why bother? Just leave one pedal off upright pianos…no big deal! People will still buy ‘em. They have to (see the reasons listed in our last post)

So stare at the 3 shiny pedals on your upright piano and enjoy their attractive three-ness, just like a grand. Then sit down and play, and know that the only one your ever gonna use is the far right damper pedal, period.

For more check out these related posts

• Why 3 Pedals Are “2 Much” On An Upright – Part 1
• Why 3 Pedals On A Grand Piano?
• Soundboard Racks and Cracks
• The All-Important Soundboard
• It Plays, It Vibrates, It Sings!