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The golden & shiny sustain pedal of my Estonia was becoming dull only after few months of playing. The dealer cosmetic technician came and fixed it yesterday, and mentioned that the problem was caused by playing the pedal bare foot. He suggested that we wear socks to prevent this problem, as the oil of our skin was causing the problem.

Has anybody has such issue? Any other solution besides wearing socks? Thanks!

I give my pedals a shine with regular brass polish once in a while, that keeps them looking new while I slowly age....

Skin is covered with all sorts of icky stuff. Acids, oils, in the case of feet, stuff that grows in damp places. I don't really want to think about it.

Wash your feet before playing? Might help forestall the dull.

Take a bit of brasso to it every month or so if it really bothers you and you can't give up playing 'au natural'.

Ok maybe someone can explain this... Normally I play the piano with shoes on (typical not-so-expensive tennis shoes or whatever, for example). About a year and a few months ago I got a mid 1950s studio upright, and the pedals were dull looking. Now, the sustain pedal looks quite shiny, at least on the front half.

It was the same deal with my old (1913) upright I had previously for several years. When I first got it, the pedals were very dull. Over time, though, somehow my shoe must have buffed off the "dullness", and when I got rid of the piano, the sustain pedal almost looked like new.

Any idea why that is?

Your theory is exactly right. Your shoe buffed the top of the pedal. The other pedals, since they are rarely used, didn't get the same buffing action. I was in a furniture store recently that had a particular display of a four poster bed. One corner of the bed kind of stuck out in the aisle where the aisle turned the corner. It was natural for me to put my hand on the top post to kind of "swing" me into the new direction the aisle went. I looked at that post and the one next to the aisle was much, much shinier than the other three posts. The store sales clerk said everyone touches that post on the way by and the oils from the skin put a high gloss on the top of that one post. Wierd??