I have a Baldwin "R" grand with a Welte Licensee action.  It's
a great-sounding piano, and it reproduces very well overall, but
the sustaining pedal operation is less "crisp" than I want it to be.

Sometimes, when the recording calls for fairly quick apply and
release of the sustaining pedal, the performance suffers and gets
muddy.  The problem is not that the sustain pneumatic is too slow to
lift the dampers quickly, it's that it returns the dampers too slowly.

I have adjusted the linkage so that there is essentially no free travel
and I have ensured that the dampers lift just enough to clear the
strings.  Nevertheless, when I need to have the strings damped quickly,
it just seems too slow to respond.

Before I start experimenting by adding a supplemental return spring,
or increasing the length of the arm that attaches the sustain pneumatic
to the damper lift wire, or something stupid, I thought that readers
out there may have encountered similar problems and would be willing
to share their solutions with me.

Many thanks from Rockville, Maryland,
Bruce Duncan