Nord Grand, neighbour complaint about keybed noise

[fortythieves]

Its definitely the noise of the keybed travelling through the floor.
I have the NG and experience the same. Incredibly frustrating.

Has anyone found a viable solution??

[dhbp-nord]

I would take reasonable steps to further isolate the Nord from the floor as mentioned, and leave it at that, or come to an agreement on reasonable playing hours - tell your neighbor he's lucky you didn't get a real piano, or 500 watts of PA for the Nord. Sounds like this issue is bigger than just the Nord. I doubt very much there is anything that you can do to the action itself to make it quieter.

D.

[CountFosco]

Its definitely the noise of the keybed travelling through the floor.
I have the NG and experience the same. Incredibly frustrating.

Has anyone found a viable solution??

The NG must have a terribly loud action if you're getting complaints from neighbouring caves.

[FZiegler]

People don't use caves as typical housing in every country of the world.

I had the worst effect with playing piano, when living in a flat with a wide floor/ceiling of concrete. Now living in an old house from 1758 with smaller rooms and swinging ceiling, you hear the creaking steps on the wooden floor, but not my keys. Who knows why.

[CountFosco]

People don't use caves as typical housing in every country of the world.

But...forty...oh never mind

[Eriknie]

I had a similar issue and the wobbly x-stand solved it. The impact of the keys was directly transmitted to the floor with the first stand (a table).
The X stand absorbs the impact.
This was the biggest noise. No more complaints!
Perhaps also put some thick carpet beneath the stand to dampen the indirect noise
They probably did hear some other noise after that, but the idea that I listened and reduced it greatly was good enough for them.

[lawman]

It seems that something is out of kilter here. It doesn't sound like you're being the unreasonable one. In fact, you've bent over backwards trying to appease your neighbor.
(1) Your landlord's support is crucial, and he/she has to be convinced that you're being reasonable. Has he stood in your neighbor's apartment and assessed your noise level for himself? He must know that you have as much right to "quiet enjoyment" of the premises as your neighbor and, simply as a matter of good management, he should try to negotiate a fair and balanced arrangement between the two of you.
(2) Have you heard any noise coming from HIS apartment, or others? Does he have a habit of complaining about other tenants as well? Can you get a sound meter and compare your keybed noise level to other environmental sound sources such as your TV and stereo? When you "did some tests with him," did you listen while you were downstairs in his apartment, or did you just rely on his word? Are there other musicians in the building, and what has been their experience?
(3) For your own peace of mind, I think you should get some free, informal advice from your local Legal Aid office. They're often enthusiastic law students and they live for Landlord/Tenant issues. I'm not suggesting that you go all legal and confrontational, you're not going to convince your neighbor of your position, but knowing the limits of his right to complain could help you with your landlord.
(4) The laws on tenant's rights differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but it's interesting to note that, at least in New York, courts have ruled on a number of occasions that a tenant's right to "quiet enjoyment" does not guarantee silence. file:///C:/Users/Beasley/Downloads/Musician's%20right%20to%20practice%20-%20Allegro-December.pdf "Musical instrument practice is one of the certain inconveniences which people living in populous areas must tolerate."
(5) Berretje jauntily suggested that you "Change the neighbor!" That's actually not a bad idea, if your building has any available units you could switch to. That would be a huge inconvenience but worth considering. I wouldn't live someplace where I couldn't practice my piano during reasonable hours.
(6) It seems to me that sound levels not in excess of that of an acoustic piano, and not after 10:00 P.M., should be deemed reasonable and tolerable to all but the most whiny wanker.

Having said all this, diplomacy is usually the best way to go, if possible. After all, we don't want to see you as the victim in an episode of "Fear Thy Neighbor"!

[oushima]

Hey! This post is kind of old but I do have a solid solution for you.

Just like you, I had the same problem. So I Googled and came across this post, it didn't help me so I did a lot of research.

A little bit of context: I currently own a Nord Grand, before that I owned a Nord Piano 4. I've been playing that instrument for about a year under the same conditions as I am currently playing my Nord Grand. My neighbor knocked on my door and asked me if I could stop playing past 00:00 AM. For me, this was not really doable, because that's my rhythm but of course, I understood my neighbors' complaint.

So I asked myself why she didn't knock on my door for an entire year when I had my Nord Piano 4. The Nord Grand has actual hammers in it. The sound of the keys is louder than my Nord Piano 4, but it is by no means loud enough to travel through the walls after research.

What I had to do is stop the vibrations from going through the floor. There is only one solid way to do it. You need to decouple your instrument from the ground. And there is only one way to do that properly, you need mass.
I was about to order a bunch of useless things but I decided to keep on Googling.

What works is "Piattino Caster Cups". You can find the official page here: https://piattinocastercups.com/
The guy also explains and talks about how noise travels through the ground from piano's etc.

I have had them for over a month and I've been slamming the keys harder than usual around the times that my neighbor doesn't want me to play. I told her to notify me if she still hears the sound, she hasn't! So that's good.
The only minor problem I have with these is that they are a tad too big, not really a problem but don't look so nice aesthetically speaking. You don't necessarily need those caster cups, but search for something that has mass so you can decouple your instrument from the ground.

Hope it helps!

[wtibbit]

Give your neighbor a break from that noisy Grand and let them enjoy the sound of a different activity from your place for a week or so. Pick something acoustically interesting. Consider a few evenings of bagpipes, fifes and snare drums. Or, perhaps the neighbors attitude would be improved by a generous number of live clog dancers rehearsing. If they don't appreciate that form of dance, maybe they would rather listen to tap dancers. Here's another thought... Accordions. Yes, that's the answer; the accordions' action is very quiet, I think. At least I've never noticed an accordion action sound, perhaps because of the other noise present. Remember, the more accordions, the better! After few nights of one of these alternative artistic experiences I'm sure that your neighbor will appreciate the little bit of sound from the action of your Nord Grand.

[Jerry Huber]

I live in a house within a 150' of railroad tracks. Whenever a train goes by, my record player skipped, it's on the second floor of the house which is on a hill. I tried anti-vibration platforms, isolation cups, shelves with spikes on everything, etc. and nothing stopped the skipping. I read a suggestion on a stereo forum to attach a shelf to a wall and place the turntable on it. I have 2' X 6' wood studs in the walls over drywall, supporting a 20 lb. turntable was not difficult. It totally worked, no skipping ever, I was surprised. It seems the vibration was transmitted to the floor, but not through the vertical supports above the floor. I don't understand why it worked but it isolated the turntable from the vibration. I know attaching a shelf to a wall in an apartment that could support a 46 lb. Grand would be major project. It could be a solution to isolate the keybed noise, but I can't think of a way to test it without building it.