Home › Forums › Harps and Accessories › Pedal felt-changing hint
- This topic has 7 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 6 months ago by Sylvia.
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January 16, 2010 at 11:13 pm #74818rosalind-beckParticipant
How many of you have had this experience?
January 17, 2010 at 12:50 am #74819Saul Davis ZlatkovskiParticipantDid you tape the pedals to each other or to the wood? I wouldn’t take a chance on tape on the wood. Could you tape the levers to the baseboard? It’s definitely a struggle. The ones that I get aligned, I put into natural to help hold the base. I’m sure you do that, too.
January 17, 2010 at 1:29 am #74820rosalind-beckParticipantI admit I did fold the pedals up and tape them to the wood (back of the body), not to each other.
January 18, 2010 at 1:03 am #74821carl-swansonParticipantRoslind- That’s a really good idea, and I don’t think it will hurt the finish. I would use a masking tape, preferably with a low tack.
The reason the pedals won’t stay in place(on the slot felts) when the pedestal is off is that the pedal spring performs two different tasks. One-the obvious one-is to push the pedal back up into flat position. But the other is to draw the pedal sideways towards the sharp position. It does this because the end of the pedal spring arm that attaches to the pedal bar is twisted so that it is not at a perfect right angle to the rest of the spring.
You can see this if you remove the pedal spring completely from the pedal and pedal stud. Hold the spring so that the arm that attaches to the pedal bar is pointing directly at you and the other arm is pointing at the floor. The right angle bend in the arm pointing at you should be pointing slightly up, not straight out to the side. This twist in the little end makes the spring draw the pedal sideways towards the sharp slot. That’s why when you have the pedestal off all the pedals want to move towards the center, the space between the BCD and the EFGA side. If you have a pedal that keeps slipping out of natural and/or sharp, the fix is to remove the spring from the pedal, clamp the coils of the spring in a vise in the position mentioned above and twist that little end up some more. that will make it pull the pedal sideways some more.
January 18, 2010 at 11:51 am #74822rosalind-beckParticipantCarl, I really appreciate your comment that temporarily taping (I’ll use masking tape next time) the folded-up pedals against the body while replacing the pedestal has some merit.
January 19, 2010 at 11:07 pm #74823Saul Davis ZlatkovskiParticipantThat’s why, your harp has a polyurethane finish, not lacquer. Nevertheless, applying anything chemical to it will have an effect, if invisible. So, I would not use tape. Perhaps string tied around the pedals would hold them. I know how difficult it is. Somebody should invent a tool that will wrap around the pedals and hold them in place, then be removable as you put the base back on. How about a very thin metal framework, Carl? They make pie slicers you push into the pie and pull out, if you cut one in half, it would be something like what we’d need, a semi-circle with arms to hold each pedal, then you pull it out backwardsly as you have the base positioned. Who’s gonnna make it?
January 20, 2010 at 12:57 am #74824rosalind-beckParticipantI still vote for masking tape.
September 28, 2017 at 5:19 pm #210556SylviaParticipantMy pedals slide off the slot felts when I’m trying to change felts. I’ve had some success with blocking the pedals at the fulcrum (where they meet) with the empty cardboards from toilet paper. I just wedge the cardboards between the pedals at the back. It’s easy to remove them when I’m done.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by Sylvia.
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