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The bottom nut is probably part of the rod, you can't tighten it. You can hold on to it. Probably... Vice grips or just needle nose pliers with strong hands.

Pushing down on the lever so that the rod sticks out is more important, to find out what is actually happening .

Thanks - I'm going to try the vice grips and see what happens...

By the way, I'm not clear on why I'm supposed to push down on the lever. What do you mean by the lever? Is that the long wooden bar that goes across? I guess I could push it down when I turn the top nut. The top nut doesn't seem to be stuck, so I think I can just turn it.

Yes, push down on the long wooden lever, while holding the pedal and the rod up. I usually do it with my left hand. Palm on the lever and fingers underneath the pedal. Squeeze until the nut goes up.

A lot easier to turn the nut with no pressure on it.

Ok. Yeah - I'm tightening the top nut now, after pushing down on the lever. Now when I fully depress the pedal, the dampers are going way past where pressing a key puts them. I guess I need to stop the pedal underneath now by putting something under it - so that the dampers go about to where pressing a key brings them to? I had to take the felt out of the top because the dampers were still lifted when the pedal hit the felt on the top once I tightened the top nut.

Yes

The hard felts that people use under chairs and furniture on hardwood floors work great.

Wow - I can't believe this is working. I'm really excited! Thanks.

I have a piece of felt that fell out of the opening that the pedal goes into (not sure where it came off though). So I put a piece of folded paper under that. Seems to be working ok for now.

I tightened the top nut as far as it would go, but I guess the dampers are slightly uneven because some notes have a good staccato and others are bleeding a bit. I guess I need to loosen the top screw a bit until I get a good staccato from all the notes?

If the dampers take off too soon, you tightened the nut too much. If the pedal was too high for your taste, you need to add felt at the top, and loosen the nut.

Are you mechanically inclined?

Yes you tightened it too much. The pedals need "some" lost motion, much like the rest of the action. Call your tech for the rest, pedals are easy!

Ok - I see how it works I think - You have to find the right tightness of the top nut and then add felt on the top or bottom of the pedal to accommodate what you want.

I'm not sure if I'm mechanically inclined or not - I worked as a carpenter for a few months but then I went in another direction. I liked doing it though. Also, I just moved into a new house, and I've been enjoying learning how to fix things up.

I would rather be playing the piano than fixing it - I can say that I just really don't want to wait for a technician...It can take weeks to schedule sometimes, and I want this fixed.

Yes!

But call your tech soon as well.

OK. Thanks so much for the help. I really appreciate it. I think I've got this figured out now. I guess there are probably other ways to approach this or fine tune it (like adding a spring) - but I think I can at least put something together that works for now until the tech can come.

All the best!

On my M&H, when the damper pedal is fully depressed, depressing a key fully further raises the damper by about a millimetre. This seems to be opposite to your requirement. I do not have the knowledge to determine if this is within normal parameters. Any thoughts anyone?

Ideally the keys lift dampers about the same as the pedal.

On grands and uprights the mechanics are quite different. So if you are talking about a grand, it's another story.

On grands, the dampers can actually "jump" up enough for you to feel their return in the key. That is why there is a damper stop rail.

On uprights, the dampers are spring activated, another story all together.

Bottom line is to make them work.

Thanks for your input, though I am confused by your answer. I have a grand. Please explain in a little more detail. This is interesting.

If the damper pedal does not lift the dampers as much as the keys, it might be possible to have the sostenuto pedal hold only the notes played even if the damper pedal is being used when you use the sostenuto pedal. That would be an advantage.

What a cool thought.

I did not understood it is a grand they raise the dampers about the same with pedal or keys, my usual tip is to see the flat dampers rise 5 mm with the sustain pedal.

If there is a sustenuto pedal it is common that this pedla rise the dampers a mm more than the sustain pedal.

Hence a little more play (up) allowed with the note at full dip (the damper head can rise 2-3 mm on white keys, less on black keys because they will be higher yet)
Above 4 mm free raise of the damper when a key is bottoming you begin to feel the damper return in the key and this is disturbing.