Makes one ask the question... Why NOT play much piano as lead (or accompaniment)? If this is a weak area of your technique, then offering advice (or at least proudly admitting the deficiency) about how to not use a sustain pedal is perhaps not the best help...

And if it isn't, why the conscious decision the miss out on the primary keyboard sound for the last 200 years? Or is it just a tacit admission that, without the extra notes, you CAN'T play decent piano parts on a 61? So might as well give it a wide berth and pretend it is an actual BENEFIT?