Silencing my silent piano

[peeetie]

Hi All,

I live in a 1900's terraced house and the walls between us and our neighbours are not great.

I've bought a Yamaha U3 which is retrofitted with the silent piano system and all was fine until the neighbours hammered the wall this morning which indicates the hammering/thudding from the silented keys alone is driving them mad.

Does anyone have any advice on how I could reduce the noise transmission (cheapest solutions will be preferable) - it seems to be coming when the hammers hit the stopper bar from the silent piano mechanism - I've so far considered the following:

- duvet down the back
- rubber casters

Anyone got any clever tricks to help me out please?

Thanks

Pete

[john90]

Do you have wooden structural floors with no carpets? If so, I would guess that the sound is being transmitted by the floor, through the piano, rather than air. A carpet or thick rug might help. You could try and cut up pieces of a car tyre if you can't find rubber casters. Bicycle inner tubes are a good source of thin rubber for more delicate work.

A keyboard like the $200 Yamaha YPG235, something light and made of plastic is super quiet for those 3am, must practise now moments. I wonder how silent Jimbo's Yamaha digital is, the higher end ones with wooden keys?

I have noticed that the thud is annoying, when using headphones that come with these Yamaha silent systems. Playing listening with the headphones, and the hammers hitting the strings is quieter, action wise. I use a digital for practise. But on Saturday morning my wife complained about the thud noise from my Rolland digital, if that is any consolation.

Another thing I noticed, is that damp proofed walls, chemical injected ones, transmit more noise. Usually the hole is skimmed over with plaster, leaving a void, which will obviously be more permeable to sound than if totally cemented and solid.

[oxy60]

I am starting to think that this is the number one subject on this forum. There is no one good answer. Once the neighbors have heard the sound they become fixated on it. Where you could've gotten away with the noise level before you now must go to the next level of silencing.

Be prepared for the outcome that no matter what you do they will not be satisfied. Some people crank up the "brain gain" just to be a pain.

Before you start doing anything to further silence the piano you need some sort of empirical measurement of what you are producing now. I don't own a Db meter, I use my recorder set to a specific mic gain and read the Vu meter.

Don't ask the complainers!

[john90]

Brilliant points oxy60, especially the scientific measuring bit, which you could measure in another room in your house. I also agree about not going round.

If you have just moved in and old people were there before, or if it was empty for a while, the neighbours may have no idea how noisy they themselves are, how poor the building is. they need adjusting in the nicest possible way. Normal noise, Pets, screaming kids, radio, tv on too loud during the match, home theatre systems on Saturday night, DIY projects. All these different things in small doses are fine for most people, and are the sort of noises Joe Public makes. If your newly silenced tapping was happening at the same time, or started after they have been used to other background noise, it might have been OK.

So more noise in the terrace in general, ideally from other neighbours and their pets, or a lodger, play the radio daily at normal levels, etc. If you are a single person living alone you may have a very different, but lower noise profile which accentuates the tapping.

[j_menz]

Take up the bagpipes, or the tuba, as a second instrument. They'll never complain about the piano again.

[Bob]

So it's not actually producing any tone?  Just key thumps?

Anything under the piano, where the feet or wheels meet the floor. You could even set it up on another platform... Although I don't know if that would diffuse the sound or amplify it.  I would think it would dampen key thudding more if there's more area and more chance to surround that extra platform with padding.

You could try moving the piano a bit too.  It may be positioned just right so a key thud is going straight into the floor just the right way to amplify.  Move the piano a bit and maybe things don't line up that way.

And you don't have to be mouse quiet unless those are the rules. You just have to stick within the rules.

[pianolive]

There are small "cups" available for pianos. They are coonstructed in the same way as the ones used in the industry to put under heavy machenes to eliminate vibrations to the floor.
The piano cups are special made for pianos and work fine.
Ask your piano tech. I have seen them in Germany.