Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Softening a Yamaha C7

My 1989 7' Yamaha Grand has always been loud and bright, for the midsize room it lives it. I had it voiced, of course several times, with concert prep, hammer shaping and regulation, with some help.
With the piano fully closed, the sound was too muffled, and with the lid down and folded it was still bright. I tried blankets with minimal help, foam baffles underneath, with no help and heavy blanket over the opening from lid, over tuning pins and under music desk with some help. I finally achieved the best result with a 2.5" acoustical foam, 2x4' in the space from under lid to front, over tuning pins. This may not be wise in high humidity situations, but acceptable here in California. Here is a link for the interested: https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5-X24-X4...undproofing-Foam-Wall-Panel/332291137206

Hi! Do you mind sharing some pics exactly how you did it? I might copy it too. Thank you

Sounds like you solved your issue with your Yamaha C7 that was too loud and too bright.

I have an older C7 (ca 1978) and have also done some hammer reshaping and voicing/needling, with good results.

I wouldn't say my C7 is too loud and too bright to suit my taste, but it is a semi-concert grand piano. So, the sound is not meant to be subdued or squelched too much, in my view.

I would not describe the sound of my C7 as too loud or bright, but a very good quality sound. But that is how it sounds to me. To some people, it may well be too loud and too bright.

In fact, I recorded another new Blues song I wrote this morning on the C7, and, boy does that baby sound good! To me, at least.

Glad you were able to do some sound engineering to improve what you hear... The C7 is a fantastic piano in my view.

All the best!

Rick

I'm kind of struggling with this, though it's not a Yamaha. The tone of my Estonia is great, and not overly bright/overtone laden IMO. But, it's a 7'4" piano, and projects like crazy and slaps me in the face. This might be a good short-term solution for me before I get a ceiling cloud installed and some voicing work done to soften it. I really do not want to affect the tone, as the treble is crystal clear, so I'm wary of having too much voicing done. But man, I could use 3 decibels knocked off of it at the keyboard so my tinnitus doesn't rage, at least until I get with the audiologist to get some custom earplugs made.

How did it sound when you tried it before purchase?
Is it surprising your Estonia sounds as big and loud as it does? Did you try more modest sizes?

Sorry, I’m guess I’m confused on why you would buy a big piano but then want to reduce the volume.

Probably because it sounds louder in his home than it did in the showroom. It's not always possible to know how a piano will sound in one's home compared to how it sounds in the showroom.

Actually, my Estonia, of the pianos I tried, seemed the most easy to modulate the volume and get a reliable pp. I still think it is - I have less 'boomer' notes that stand out, and also less dead ones from trying to play too softly and missing the engagement point. It is very linear wrt the feel of the action. My room is pretty large (13x26 or something like that), carpeted, etc. When I use the volume meter on my phone, it's only 85 db or so at my listening position, unless I'm really, really pushing it hard. The dynamic range is very broad, at least in my judgement (though I haven't played a lot of high quality grands for more than a few minutes each). Everything always seems nicely proportional.

But it seems very loud to me at the keyboard in my own house. I'm going to get an acoustic engineer over at some point, put up a ceiling cloud, etc., but that all takes time, and I don't really want to do too much more piano trading, as I'm already in pretty deep with a very nice piano - the only real direction to go is to a new 6' model of something that would clock in around the same pricepoint, and I'd sacrifice some action feel and bass rumble. So if I put up a cloud, and am still not satisfied, I either need to voice it down, practice on a digital and occasionally use the grand, or get a smaller piano.

A bit frustrating as it's such a beautiful instrument, but I'm also not going to overreact until I get the room more officially voiced (I put up better curtains, put in a bookshelf, and some wall art, but the ceiling is only 8' so I bet some dampening on the ceiling might help me out).

Also it might be more my ears than anything else, as even my Kawai upright could make them ring if I opened the lid.

But yeah, it's a bit surprising, since it seemed tame in the store, like it wouldn't give the volume unless you really, really asked for it and pushed hard. Smaller pianos seemed louder to me at the store.

Right - if it wasn't giving me pretty bad tinnitus, I wouldn't care at all - I live alone in a relatively roomy house, so volume isn't really a concern aside from any impacts it has on my hearing.

My piano guy put acoustic foam both underneath the soundboard and on top(covering the back 3/4 of the soudboard) to make by M&H BB quieter to appease my neighbor who started complaining last year even though I have had the piano for around 15 years. It definitely quieted the piano without changing the tone in a way I can discern. It also made it much easier to play pp without getting ghost notes.

Ok. I get it. The reasons make sense. I still feel it’s like putting a speed governor on your new Porsche.

Is he supposed to do nothing and get tinnitus?

I believe Porsches do come with a speed governor, unless you buy the track versions. Same as all the German makes (155 mph).

Edit: Point being, that it's still a nicer experience up to 155 mph

No of course not. Maybe some earplugs can help until the special ear phones arrive. It’s just a bit of a shame to have to damper down the sound of a C7 or similar large piano. Tinnitus can be really annoying so whatever is needed to keep it at bay has to be done.

I have tinnitus really bad due to an extreme noise injury several years ago, which also damaged my hearing, particularly my higher frequency hearing. Until that noise injury, I had no tinnitus and good natural hearing.

Now, I struggle with tinnitus every single day, and wear hearing aids from the time I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night. The hearing aids alone help the tinnitus to an extent. The hearing aids actually have a tinnitus program that produces white noise to help, but I never use it.

Ironically, after a few hours of playing my Yamaha C7, with my hearing aids in, the tinnitus actually eases up a good bit. Like I said, it is odd and ironic, but when I'm playing the piano, I do not hear the ringing in my ears. When I stop playing the piano, the ringing is not as bad, at least for a while.

Tinnitus is a terrible, terrible condition, that I would not wish upon my worst enemy in the world. But the music helps, rather than hurts. Yes, strange, I know.

BlakeOR, I hope you can make some adjustments to your Estonia grand piano so the tinnitus is not so bad. I know what you are experiencing, my friend.

Rick

I’m sorry for anyone who has to deal with tinnitus. My sister has had it for years and has been unable to go to live performances or be in loud restaurants for many years. The specialized hearing aids are really expensive. So yes. Now I understand.

Something I think you will like. Pull the action out and brush the hammers with a nylon or firm brush. Tells you what good voicing should do, safe, but doesn’t last. Neil Adler

I was about to get myself a 6 foot piano in my small room. Seem like I need to think twice.
May I ask how loud in dB is considered loud to the general pianists?
To me, my middle C from my vertical can produce 83+ (taken from meter app) with ff playing, is loud to me.

I could be wrong, but I'm thinking volume (dB) can be loud on smaller pianos too. Although larger grand pianos, and uprights, have a larger soundboard, with more surface area, that does not always mean louder, although larger pianos can be louder than smaller ones.

I think many members here with larger grand pianos at home, even in smaller rooms, can attest to the fact that larger does not always mean louder. A 5' grand in a 12'X12' room can be just as loud or louder than a 7' piano in the same room.

As others have said, and based on the topic of this thread, there are things than can be done to mitigate the possible higher volume of a larger piano, but it seems a shame to get a larger piano and then have to try and make it sound smaller.

Some members here have 9' concert grands in smaller rooms in their home, and don't complain about the volume.

But as you say, the volume of a certain piano in a certain size room is a major consideration when purchasing a piano.

Rick

Yep. Mine is only measuring 85-86 DB when playing a basic ff. If I really push it (big chords, fff), it will go up to 90, with my phone on a tripod right where my ears are. I know, phone meters aren't truly accurate, but still gives an idea.

I don't think it's actually that much louder at peak volume than the smaller grand I had in here for a month. I do think the sound presents differently, and that it has much greater sustain. It has more presence, fills the room, thicker, probably just decays more slowly due to the larger soundboard.

And, perhaps it's easier to reach 80 DB - I haven't played on enough pianos to know - I just started playing again a year ago, hit a milestone in my life this winter, and decided to splurge on a grand. Will change in a month when I go back to in person lessons and play on my teacher's grand. I also haven't had anyone over to my house that plays to give comments on my piano either, so I'm pretty limited in my perspective. Anyone in PDX that wants to swing by? :P

Like I said, I'm going to start working on it. First step is audiologist, scheduled for next month (specialists, take forever to get appts). I'll probably try to find an acoustician in a couple of weeks, and might have my tech over to see what he thinks. I get my first COVID shot on Friday, so I'll be more willing to have people in and out of the house. I can't even put up a ceiling cloud right now, as I'm lacking the second pair of hands to hang anything directly above the piano.

Though I suppose I could order some of that foam that the OP of this thread put inside his piano, and staple it to the ceiling just to see if it makes any difference, would probably tell me if I'm chasing ghosts or not.