Yamaha YUS1 - Practice/Mute Pedal

[Lexusuk]

Hi all,

I have a Yamaha YUS1 upright piano which I have owned for approximately 2 years. Currently I live in a house with no neighbours in the evening but soon I will be moving house to either an apartment block or a semi detached house and will no doubt need to use the practice pedal more often. Being a refurbed Japanese imported Yamaha (Forsyths Manchester) the felt attached to the practice bar is brand new.

When engaged the piano is unplayable. It's like the felt used to mute the hammers is too thick. From the low A to Middle C is ok but middle C to top C is almost completely silent unless played really hard. What i'd like to know is, should I ask a piano tech to change the felt? Or should I just "play it in" so to speak?

Any advice on generally muting the sound would be helpful. I have heard that putting a thick fabric covering the entire back of the piano is also a good way to bring the volume down.

[Barrie Heaton]

is the felt graded Thin in the treble and thick in the bass - Also the nute bar may be going too far down

it need looking at

Barrie

[Lexusuk]

It feels thinner in the treble and thicker in the bass yeah. The bar doesn't appear to be dropping so low as to affect the action in anyway. The felt appears to brand new and i've rarely used it before. Do you think it will improve over time?

[Colin Nicholson]

I think you'll find it is working OK and doing its job. They are not really designed to give a ''quiet pure'' note.... but more of a thud? The top treble strings will only last a fraction of a second. The pedal is mainly for technical practise like scales. I know what you mean though - a poor excuse really for reducing the sound.

If you've not used it before, you may have expected a better sound.
It can however be adjusted up slightly so the hammers just hit the edge of the celeste felt.... but dont forget, that this device also changes the hammer travel, so its not designed really like a digital silent piano.

Just check the spring is working OK?