In MMD 970812, Grant Leonard mentioned that his Pianomation Playola
keytop player did not have a means of using the sustain pedal, but that
the machine simply held the keys down on the sustained notes.  I
immediately saw a problem with this, but thought I'd hold off and let
those more well versed than I tackle it.  Nobody did, which probably
means I've missed something obvious.  But here is my problem:

How does this device, without a sustain pedal, handle the situation where
a pitch, while being sustained by the pedal, is repeated?  This is a
fairly common occurrence, and I can't figure how it would be simulated
without keeping the damper away from the string, independent of the piano
action.

Without the damper lift mechanism (pedal or lever on a keyslip), the
string would be dampened by the natural function of the piano action.
For an example: on an upright, when the wippen and spoon return the
damper to the springs for an instant as the action returns to check
before the note is repeated.  If even for a split second, the action
causes the strings to dampen (unless the dampers are lifted by the pedal
or keyslip lever!).

Therefore, I can't imagine how repeated sustained notes could be
simulated by simply holding down the keys for sustained pitches.

I'm obviously missing something in my understanding of how all this
works, so as I said, I held off posting my question for awhile.  Can
anyone help?

Bryan Cather
Arlington, Texas
BSnakeC@aol.com