Adding a silent option to a piano - any tips?

[bartgovaert]

Folks,

As we are moving to a new house, I am going to need a piano with a silent option. I was hoping to do a part exchange of our K2 into a silent K3 or U1, but it seems in the current economic climate no vendors are really interested in part exchanges.

So I am looking at converting our K2, adding a “silent” option.

My questions: has anybody added such a system, which system would you recommend, is this risk free for the piano, do you know anybody who is specialized in adding these systems?

Thanks for any pointers,

Bart

[athomik]

Hello,
As far as I know, there are only three reasonably reliable after-market systems. I have no experience of them but they seem to pretty good (maybe not quite the same as a factory installations) . Try Google for QRS, Piano Disc or Feurich silent systems. Feurich have just shown a new system at the Frankfurt Music Show. They don't seem to need to much hacking about of the piano.

[Barrie Heaton]

Folks,

As we are moving to a new house, I am going to need a piano with a silent option. I was hoping to do a part exchange of our K2 into a silent K3 or U1, but it seems in the current economic climate no vendors are really interested in part exchanges.

So I am looking at converting our K2, adding a “silent” option.

My questions: has anybody added such a system, which system would you recommend, is this risk free for the piano, do you know anybody who is specialized in adding these systems?

Thanks for any pointers,

Bart

You have the Gabore system Sold on this site as a DIY project for £650.00 if you want a Tuner to fit you are looking at £400 - 500 on top to fit. The downside of the QRS, Piano Disc mentioned about is the set off has to be altered and on smaller pianos the checking as well other than that they are good systems. With the Gabore system this is not the case, all you change is the slap rail with the new one. The piano can be put back to a none silent pianos in about 20 mins so long as you keep the old slap rail

Barrie

[David B]

I can confirm that I bought this Gabor system off this site about two years ago, and fitted it myself.

I just requires a bit of patience - it's fiddly and the video is not always that easy to follow..

But if you give yourself time - say a couple of hours for a couple of days, then it it worth the investment.

Once installed the system is great, and no looking back

[athomik]

[qouote]You have the Gabore system Sold on this site as a DIY project for £650.00 i
Barrie[/quote]

Sorry, but I forgot about that one, but you do't really hear about it very often.

Adrian Thomas

[bartgovaert]

OK that is all great info. Turns out our regular tuner knows how to install these Gabor systems, so that is probably what we do (personally, I just about manage to swap a light bulb, but that is about the extend of my DIY skills).

Thanks

Bart

[pianoladybirmingham]

We would luuuve such a piano but costly, in a terraced house so need both options. Anyone tried a yamaha avante grande? its a hyrbid and half the cost

[athomik]

The Avant Grands are quite good. They all have a proper piano action and the N3 sounds extremely good for a digital piano. The N1 and N2 can be a bit hit & miss with regard to build quality but, as long as any early problems get sorted under warranty, they should be pretty good as well.

[joseph]

I know that Paul Leverett at piano restorations can fit QRS systems, but they are expensive and probably something you would consider fitting to a higher-end grand rather than a mid-range upright. This thread is a bit old now, but how feasible would it be to trade in the K2 for an 'anytime' version of it?

Regarding the AvantGrands, I tried some of the first N1s and I wasn't all that impressed, but then I tried one that was properly set up and regulated and I couldn't stop playing it. They really are very good. They are good enough that an advanced pianist could do about 90 percent of their practice on one without too much trouble, even though it wouldn't be as rewarding as doing the same work on a C3X for instance, but really, Yamaha have done very well with the N1.

No, I wouldn't buy an N1 to replace my grand pianos with, but if I found myself in a situation where I had to live somewhere with very little space and had to let the grands go, yes, I would be OK with an N1. In fact if I was well off I'd buy one to replace my CP300 with but I'm not!