The Stuart's fourth pedal brings the hammers closer to the strings... it is a half-blow pedal (or dolce pedal). And then, of course, the una corda pedal is the third pedal.
Sorry, I've never called the dolce pedal that. I assumed you were talking about the Steingraeber pedal.
The Steingraeber-Phoenix does combine the two pedals in one via an ingenious adaptation of a bicycle hydraulic thing. The reason for this is to keep the pedal number at three (apparently, four pedals is disorienting to some people).
I find it disconcerting that some pianists are so mechanically conditioned that they can't count past three. One wonders how pianists managed to adjust from 85 notes to 88. My students have no problems with either the pedals or the extra notes on the Stuart.
It may not be as flexible, in that one can't use both soft pedals at the same time, but 99% of people probably wouldn't miss that... I didn't take advantage of that when I played the Stuart, and didn't mind the setup on the Steingraeber-Phoenix.
...and as a result you missed out on one of the great things about the Stuart. I use both all the time, and I can get effects and feel that are impossible to get on any other piano I've tried, and I've tried many over the years.
Fazioli's fourth pedal is offset to the left... there's a picture of it on the company's website. I imagine that it would be rather cumbersome to use both soft pedals with this arrangement, as you said, but again I don't think most people would care to use them simultaneously.
Which once again is unfortunate because as I said above you really have to experience the two pedals to understand what all the fuss is about with this piano. Once you're used to it, going back to three pedals is almost like reverting to the age of the dinosaurs :-)
And as it turns out, the fourth pedal is standard of the 308, but can be added to all other models for an extra 10,400 dollars (according to Larry Fine).
I sit corrected.
Bed time
Likewise :-)
Regards
Chris
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