Who's BU

[prettyxmastreedecorations]

Ive name changed as this is very outing. Bear with me this is long.
My DS is day at uni he plays the electric base guitar he cane home at 2200 on Monday the 18th. WE live in a very old terraced house in a small town. It likely that my house and my neighbours house were one at some stage so sound proofing between the houses isn't great. When we moved in we could hear out neighbour cough so we have had some of our walls professionally sound proofed (my neighbour hasn't) but I can hear his TV some nights, his dogs bark quite lot and set mine off and I suffer from insomnia and I hear him when I'm in bed either talking to someone or his radio I'm not sure which. If he has friends over and is talking I can hear the conversation quite clearly at times. But I take the view we live in a terrace house (which I love). so live and let live.
Yesterday morning I was going out and we were expecting a delivery so I chucked him out of bed at 9 am. At 10 30 my DH calls me from work apparently our neighbour rang and left a message with one of my DH's colleagues as he was on the phone saying my DS was playing electric guitar so loudly he couldn't hear himself think. DH rand him and told him to turn it down and go round and apologise.
I came home at 1300 (neighbour wouldn't have known this as I'm driving a hire car and couldn't park it outside my house as no permit) we all had lunch together chatted DS played guitar but quietly enough that my other DC and I could talk to him at the same time.
I went out briefly and came back to find an aggressive letter from the neighbour.
He was accusing my DS of playing his guitar so loudly all day that he couldn't think, he said "this is not a Hall of Residence" that its driving him mad and it drove him mad when DS was doing all through the summer holidays and that he's spoken to the council who's advised him to speak to us first. He wants the guitar playing to stop or he will take further action.
I'm planning to contact the council for advise. I dont want to drive my neighbour mad but I also don't want my DH to not play his guitar as he enjoys it and is actually good at it. Usually he doest get out of bed till 14 30 when he's home and he doesn't play it after 2100, he plays it on a quiet setting (you can talk easily to him whilst he's playing), as I don't like loud noises of any description but he is playing it. He hasn't been here since the middle of September, he didn't pay it all day every day through the summer hols as 1. he was away, 2. he had a job and 3 as I said above he doesn't get out of bed to 14 30 if he can help it!
What is reasonable please.

Sorry not very clear I chucked my DS out of bed at 9 am.

Can't he plug headphones into the amp so that it doesn't disturb your neighbour??

I would tell your ds to stop playing. Why wouldn’t you? He can play as much as he likes when he returns to college. Why doesn’t he play with head phones?

Talk to your neighbour, ask if he can come to agreement that your DS can play an hour or 2 a day and at an agreed time.

What is reasonable is that your neighbour doesn't hear it - he needs headphones

Headphones. You already know that the walls are obviously paper thin, so DS plays with headphones, or he doesn't play at all.

It's bass. Any sounds in the same room are fine. But he is hearing the vibration noise through the walls, which is more irritating as it's like the sound isn't amplified as such but coming from the whole wall not the single source you experienced.

Go next door whilst DS is playing his guitar and see for yourself how loud and intrusive the noise is, then come to an agreement with your neighbour. Headphones do sound like an excellent idea though.

I have a feeling this thread is going to turn into a 'cenacle the cheque' scenario!

What allthetuppences said.
Headphones would be a great ide, particularly if your son can then play his bass alongside another soundtrack

Wear some headphones.

cancel the cheque

It’s so obvious.

If the volume of the bass playing is no different to having a hi-fi on at normal volume then tell him he can carry on.

If it's louder than you'd play your own music then tell him to either turn it down or get headphones. No need to tell him to stop playing.

Then do a full list of everything you can hear your neighbour doing. Tell him what you're doing to address the bass playing, and ask him what he's going to do to address the barking dogs, the loud TV, and any other noises you keep hearing. Ask him about soundproofing his side of the wall.

My DS is a guitarist, he intentionally has the bedroom furthest away from our neighbours and uses headphones nearly all the time. They are now away for two weeks so he's having a break from the headphones.

PP's suggesting that he plays when he's back at college, all I can say is I pity the students trying to work when he's playing. OP can you buy him a decent set of headphones for an xmas present?

I played bass as a teen and it drove my family round the bend even though it was on "quiet setting" and they had to live with me . Tell your DS to buy headphones as vibrations can travel and amplify and it seems to be really aggravating your neighbor so I think that would be your best bet

Thank you for all your input.
Should have said we ordered some headphones last night and will tell DS not to play until he gets them.

So you posted about a problem you had already set about solving in a very sensible and simple way?

Well, I'm going against the grain here.
It sounds to me like you have very reasonable time limits, and volume limits in place already. The guitar playing in your house is the equivalent of the TV watching by your neighbour. Your ds should absloutely be able to make a 'normal' amount of noise in his own hose the same as the neighbour does in his.
The best scenario is if you can come to some compromise by talking, but the key is compromise. Remember it is your ds's home too. I like the suggestions about going round to your neighbour and listening when your ds is playing, and perhaps explaining (if it is, of course) that it is the equivalent volume to you hearing their TV - it is part of living in a terraced house. Explain that whilst you are willing to try to work out a compromise, it doesn't help if he is exaggerating to the council, and that you'd like to work with him, but it has to be open, honest, and recognising that your ds is just as entitled to be relaxed in his home as the neighbour is in his.

BackforGood I have frequently been in the same room as someone playing the bass guitar. It reverberates. A lot. Even when played quietly.
The OP might have volume limits in place when she's actually at home, but a teenager isn't going to think about that when he's by himself in the house is he?
I'm betting that it is deafening. And basslines aren't exactly tuneful on their own.