muffle a grand piano

[anotherjzguy]

I'm moving into a studio apartment with a Yamaha C-6. I love this
piano and don't want to give it up. I lived in a small apartment with
a GH-1 a long time ago and I muffled it by stuffiing a quilt into the
piano above the strings then closing the piano. Of course the quality
of sound suffered but I just needed to practice. It's a long story
and I won't bore you with the details, but now I'm in a similar
situationl. I teach and play gigs in Philadelphia and will have my
piano there in this studio apartment. I'm only there 3 or 4 days a
week. I want to be able to practice without disturbing the
neighbors. Sometimes I'll want to play too and will want to hear the
piano. I have a bunch of questions. I hope you will indulge me.

1. I heard of this solution. grandpianomuffler.com Does anyone know
of this? Has anyone ever installed one of these?

2. Is there any harm in stuffing a quilt into the piano to dampen the
strings?

3. Is there any way to place felt between the strings and hammers
that will dampen the sound similar to what the "apartment damper" does
on upright pianos? I have a yamaha U2 with the middle pedal that
moves to the side, making the felt come inbetween the hammers and the
strings. I've never seen this in a grand.

[Steven Lewis]

grandpianomuffler looks like it would be quite effective, but it also
appears to be pretty expensive.
you might also consider these:
placing the piano on carpet will cut the sound considerably
try to live in a ground floor apartment, much of the sound will go through
the casters into the floor and to the apt below if you live above someone.
pianosupply.com sells a rubber socket that you can place the casters into
stuff a blanket up underneath the piano against the soundboard and tack in
it with staples
completely close the lid, put the music rack on top of lid if necessary
try laying a large piece of felt over the strings, you may get some odd
sounds, though, but it wont harm anything.

Post by anotherjzguy
I'm moving into a studio apartment with a Yamaha C-6. I love this
piano and don't want to give it up. I lived in a small apartment with
a GH-1 a long time ago and I muffled it by stuffiing a quilt into the
piano above the strings then closing the piano. Of course the quality
of sound suffered but I just needed to practice. It's a long story
and I won't bore you with the details, but now I'm in a similar
situationl. I teach and play gigs in Philadelphia and will have my
piano there in this studio apartment. I'm only there 3 or 4 days a
week. I want to be able to practice without disturbing the
neighbors. Sometimes I'll want to play too and will want to hear the
piano. I have a bunch of questions. I hope you will indulge me.
1. I heard of this solution. grandpianomuffler.com Does anyone know
of this? Has anyone ever installed one of these?
2. Is there any harm in stuffing a quilt into the piano to dampen the
strings?
3. Is there any way to place felt between the strings and hammers
that will dampen the sound similar to what the "apartment damper" does
on upright pianos? I have a yamaha U2 with the middle pedal that
moves to the side, making the felt come inbetween the hammers and the
strings. I've never seen this in a grand.