A pedal not returning all the way

[josepi]

Hello, I'm new to playing the pedal steel and have recently required a lovely Carter D-10. It plays lovely except recently the A pedal has a tendency to not quite return to it's normal position once it has been pressed down. This isn't noticeable by the eye but because the 4th string (E) can sometimes be sharpened by about 20 cents and I have to stop playing and place my foot under the A pedal and gently raise it up to return the 4th string to it's correct pitch. The A pedal on my pedal steel also sharpens the 5th string (B - C#), however this string seems unaffected and plays fine which I find peculiar.
Any help would be extremely appreciated as it's currently difficult to play my pedal steel because of this.
Thanks
Joe

[Zebedee]

It could be a number of things.
The first thing to do is to make sure that there is a little bit of slack between the nylon tuner that raises the 4th string when the 'C' (not 'A') pedal is lifted, and also check that the nylon raise tuner from the 'F' knee lever has some slack.

Then check that the 'C' pedal is free to move on its axle (it may need lubricating), check that the ball connector joint is not sticking, check that the 'C' pedal cross-shaft has a bit of free movement end-to-end (sometimes cross-shafts bind up), have a very careful look at the connection between the 4th string pull-rod and its bellcrank (the little brass round connector, called a pull pin, can wear excessively and cause a lot of problems), check that the pull rod from the bellcrank to the changer finger is not binding on any other bellcranks that it is passing through (the probable culprit, in my opinion), lubricate the changer mechanism with sewing machine oil, check there's no broken string ends jammed in the changer, check that the other pull rod from the 'F' lever to the 4th string is not binding in any way

[Tony Russell Davis]

Richard, can I but-in to point out that it's called the "C" pedal because of what it does, not where it is?
Joe - some guitars have the "A" pedal at the left end and go ABC, some have the "C" at the left end and go CBA (like yours). That's why Richard corrected you. The rest of the pedals on a D10 are on C6th anyway and don't concern you question. T.