Pianotech

Too loud or too loud with the lid up. Also is the regulation good enough to play pianissimo?

When I worked for a store many years ago, we would install player systems in some of the pianos we sold.  In nearly every case, the first complaint was that the piano was too loud.  We used to stuff acoustic foam underneath the (grand) pianos between the beams underneath.  It only reduced the volume about 10%.  Acoustic foam is only capable of reducing reflections of sound in a room, but is not meant to block sound.  The best sound blocking material is called "mass-loaded vinyl".  It is used in automobiles to reduce noise coming from under the car.  It's installed under the carpeting and inside the doors.  It's expensive and heavy.  At least half of the sound of a piano comes out the bottom of a piano, so if this material were installed under the piano across the bottom of the case, it would indeed absorb and block a good bit of volume.  To use this material effectively, there should be no gaps to let sound out.  I have not tried it though.  Another idea is to lay some felt directly on the strings.  You will lose sustain, but it will attenuate some sound.  This also works if you have a piano that the high treble wants to "sing", but there are no dampers.  Put felt over that section and it will do the trick.  Years ago, when Edwards used to make string covers, they made covers that had sound absorbing materials sewn into the string cover.  I'm pretty sure it was acoustic foam.  It was only partially effective, but it did help some.  When the venue (customer's home) has hard walls, putting sound absorbing materials on the walls will help, especially echoes and reverberation.  The piano will still be loud though.  There is a system that can be installed in a grand piano, similar to the muffler rail in upright pianos.  It requires a lot of work to install, but is effective.  I haven't used it myself, but I have seen it at conventions.

Good luck.

"Too loud" needs to be better defined. Yes, a rug under the piano can help a lot because it gets rid of one reflective surface. And works in most locations most of the time when dealing with a hard floor. And foam inserts inside and underneath the piano can work if the piano itself is perhaps too harsh in any environment. But is it the piano, or the room? If the piano is sitting in a room with walls that are parallel, and/or the floor and ceiling are parallel, and/or all the surfaces are hard, the reflections off these parallel surfaces will create standing waves that may actually amplify the sound of the piano. This can happen in both rooms that are too large and rooms that are too small for the piano that is in them. Curtains can help. Rugs and furniture can help. Even moving the piano around the room to a location where the reflected soundwaves off walls and ceilings are not as strong can help. 

The other thing to consider is, it is too loud for the pianist or too loud for other people in the room? Player systems have a history of being too loud, especially when you want the piano as background music during a party that is happening in, or near, the same room that houses the piano. 

I have one customer with a 9' Hamburg S&S. It is sitting at the far end of a rather large room, with carpeting and furniture. But the problem is that it simply overpowers the room. It is too much piano for the room regardless. A 7' would be perfect. On the other hand, when I sit in the middle of the room, listening to the owner play after tuning, it sounds quite perfect. In other words, this piano is too large, and therefore too loud, for the pianist, in that room, in that location. I am of the opinion that if there was room for the piano to be rotated a bit everything would work better. But the room won't allow for that. 

I service a teaching studio that is in a former office with small cubical sized rooms (practice room size), one with a small grand.  The complaint is that the piano is too loud in this small space.  I have foam blocks fitted between the beams under the belly, blankets and towels over the soundboard area and a thick blanket over the instrument and it is still too loud.  Sometimes it is just what you get with what you have.