A player piano that plays too loud is the number one complaint.  If
it's an old one or a new one, the complaint is still the same.

In your case, since it's been played so much in the past, I'd suspect
the hammers are getting very hard and the strike surface is no doubt in
need of reshaping.  After reshaping the hammers, listen to them.  If
they display a bright tone, try running a small bead of alcohol and
water down the strike line of all the hammers.  I use a hypo bottle, and
the mix is more alcohol than water.  I move right along with the bottle
as I'm applying the bead, so I end up with about a 1/4" wide "wet spot"
on each hammer.  If the water doesn't soak in willingly, use more
alcohol.

Dry with a hair dryer and check your results.  Reapply as needed to even
out the tone through out the entire set, file as needed to increase
brilliance or needle in the 2:00 and 10:00 positions of the hammer to
increase brilliance.  This mellows out the tone and makes the louder
volumes more tolerable.  Hard hammers, bright tones, make for a piercing
tone that is not that nice to listen to over a period of time.  It's
great for large concert stages, and recording studios but in the home
it's just too danged loud.

Lar

•                         Larry Fisher RPT
        specialist in players, retrofits, and other complicated stuff
             phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com
       http://pacifier.com/~larryf/homepage.html (revised 5/96)
             Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water