I am recieving a free upright piano,its been in an empty house for years i cant tell you much about it,but when i hit a key in the upper part the hammers stick but the keys come back into place,and also the sustain pedal is "stiff" it wont push down??? Can you advise me if ytou have had such experiences before. What is the problem???

Thanx for the help

It probably needs a lot of work. You would need to have a tech look at it, but your "free" piano isn't going to be free.

Has anyone ever come by these problems before??? Why does it happen???

Thank you

I see these issues every day. Not only in old, but new verticals too. Causes can be varied, but most are due to neglect, age, and poor humidity control. You will have to get a tech to assess the piano. In the long run it could cost you a couple hundred $$ to get it in good playing conditon.

Hah, I was going to guess you were from California. I've been working here now for about 18 years, before this I was in NYC. In New York, I rarely saw this kind of gradual increase of friction in idle actions. I don't know whether it's because out here there's so many 'furniture pianos' that are basically ignored, or if there's something in the air that causes oxydation on the hinge pins....or what. When the keys drop back but action parts don't, it's almost always because of increased friction in various flanges in the action. It could be hammer, whippen, damper or jack flanges, or all of the above. I would start by trying a good dose of Protek on every moving part. That should only take a tech an hour or so. But if that doesn't work, you might need bushings enlarged with broches and repinned. That work goes note by note, and if there's a lot of them it could be costly. Hopefully, you can live better through chemicals!