Matthew There are 2 problems. One is the acoustics in the room. If it's large, loud room, there is not much you can do to quiet the piano. Second, the owner thinks of the player system as if it is a stereo, where the volume can be turned down, without effecting the operation of the system. The piano is a mechanical instrument, and a certain amount of volume is required for the piano operate. Even if a pianist would play it, there is only so much he can do to play softly, and still have all the notes play. One way to soften the sound is to super voice the hammers. Have you ever done steam voicing? It is a some what permanent fix, in that even though the hammers can be brought back up, it's not like they can be changed right away. I would not do anything with the regulation,because that would cause the system not to operate correctly. My other suggestion is to tell the customer what I just said about it being a mechanical instrument, and if he wants to carry on a conversation with his clients, that he go to another room. (Say it nicely and more diplomatically, of course.) Wim -----Original Message----- From: Matthew Todd <toddpianoworks at att.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Mon, Nov 23, 2009 3:19 pm Subject: [pianotech] Piano too loud! Hi, I have a client that has a Schimmel grand with a player disc system installed. He is having an issue where he turns the volume all the way down, and the piano is still too loud. He has business meetings, dinners, etc. where he uses the piano as background music. And as he demonstrated while I was there, with the volume turned all the way down, it was difficult for him and I to carry on a conversation. Let me also add that the acoustics in that room is horrible. Now, where the disc system is installed, there is already an undercover to conceal the components. My thought would be to add a rug on the floor directly underneath the piano. Then, I also had thought about using acoustical foam for the soundboard area. That, coupled with closing the lid completely. Also, what would the effect of adjusting the let-off have in this situation? Have any of you been in a situation like this? Or is it useless? Matthew -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20091123/384a20c1/attachment.htm>
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