Moving a upright piano

[drmordo]

I've moved a few, including up a long flight of stairs into a second story restaurant.

Having a piano dolly makes a huge difference. Stairs make a huge difference.

If there are no stairs involved, and if you are relatively fit, I'd say go for it.

 

[Brad Pittiful]

i have cousins in the piano moving business

 

[Wildeman]

Don't do it, it suuuuuucks....

 

[Ted Keane]

You need to get a couple of roadies

 

[68tele]

2 people + 1 piano = enjoy your hernia(s)

 

[John Owen]

This, he actually needs a piano mover. It’s free spend the money on the mover.

This is the correct answer!

 

[tele12]

.........

How fragile are these things?
......

They aren't as fragile as you are.

 

[billy logan]

If and when the piano gets moved, I recently read an opinion that you should wait a couple weeks after the piano has reacted to the move and the new location, humidity, temperature, etc.,, and THEN have it tuned.

btw there are piano tuning apps for smartphones that reflect the well-tempered ideal of tuning. If you're digital technical (which I'm not.) You'd need the certain wrench that fits the pegs. And the "thin wedge of rubber" dampers to damp neighboring strings.

I like a real piano.

Yeah, if the move involves deadlifting you'll probably need more than two. Unless you got Gunnar and Sven from The World's Strongest Man competition.

Or!!! You could channel the spirit of Ed Gong. This remarkable gentleman passed away in 2011. Many of the 7,000 pianos he moved he moved by himself, or with just minimal help from the person he rented them to.

Edward Gong, who moved 7,000 pianos, dies - SFGATEhttps://www.sfgate.com › bayarea › article › Edward-G...

edit to add: GO, MEXICO!

 

[GeneB]

Drink all the beer first and then explain you're too drunk to move it.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Whoever is getting the piano in a very short time will wish fervently they had never seen the piano. They will hope without respite for someone, anyone to volunteer, or for at first a small fee, but later at any cost to remove the thing from out of their presence.

A piano that is never played, of one description or another has been a part of my life, for longer than some of you have been alive. Yet every day, I see one sitting, just around the bend from my office. She who must be obeyed made buying her another piano one of the conditions to selling the last one we had. It left with two men pushing it on a dolly down the roadway, the sidewalk presenting to great a challenge.

My vision of being a piano owner:

 

[Toto'sDad]

For your edification:

 

[John Owen]

For your edification:

Looks like someone forgot to vacuum the innards of that piano for a couple of weeks.

 

[cometazzi]

It took four of us strapping young lads to move my Hammond M3. It's the size of a spinet but only about 249 pounds. There were stairs involved and it took a while going up them one step at a time. You will need at least four people, if not six or eight.

Something else to consider: getting 500-800 pounds onto a staircase with 2, 4, 6, 8 guys... How much weight is that, and how much until the stairs collapse? Hiring professional movers is probably the way to go.

Real pianos are great, but even at free, once you pay to move it you can buy a really nice digital piano with weighted keys, MIDI and other accoutrements.

Oh, and digital pianos can be carried around by one person.

I'd mention this to your buddy.

 

[billy logan]

Maybe someone can tell me what electric keyboard was used on this track?


or what electric keyboard would be the least discouraging substitute here?



btw. Without sarcasm I will say:
IF a piano is beyond repair
THEN the solution in post #31 isn't a bad idea -
If you scavenge the strings for zithers, and autoharps, cheese slicers; the wood for crafts or fireplaces; the metal frame to recycle.



maybe I'm in a mood

 

[uriah1]

I remember back in the day we had a biker club help us haul giant gollehons and other Equpment down and up stairs to a club. That was when you had to tri amp everything

 

[Stubee]

How fit are you? I’ve moved two uprights along with a very nice slate top pool table. All involved stairs. I moved Ernie’s pool table with him and another guy out from his basement into a new house. We did take the top off because the slate alone was a beast. I moved a Grinnel spinet out of a house and down into our basement. That one wasn’t too bad because it wasn’t a full upright. When I sold it it was “ you want it, you move it”.

The real challenge was in 1973 when my first wife decided she wanted a piano while we were preparing to move from MI to New Mexico and found one for cheap. It was upstairs in an old house in E Lansing and the only way to get it out was on the fire escape. My friend Duke and I wrangled that sucker down those crappy metal stairs and somehow onto a utility trailer where we strapped it down upright for the trip to NM. My F-100 didn’t have a hutch so Duke towed that monster slowly all the way behind his Plymouth Duster, and we made a little detour to Lubbock to visit a friend in the USAF. We finally put the thing in our rental house up on the West Mesa by Albuquerque. It was ungodly heavy and I really couldn’t tell ya how we managed it except that we were young and would move anything we could budge.

My 1st wife ended up with Duke not too long afterward, and though we all moved back to MI that upright may still be sitting in that same house. I probably weighed all of 140 lb back then so yes, you can move an old upright…but ya shouldn’t!

 

[Ricky D.]

Uprights come in different sizes. If it’s five feet tall, it’s essentially a baby grand with vertical strings. 600-700 lb.

If you have a stairway involved, only the two guys on the bottom will have good places to grab and room to stand. On the sides, forget it. On top, they are leaning forward to hold the piano, tough to lift in that position.

Lose control on the steps and the guys on the bottom are in serious trouble.

I ran operations for a good size moving company for many years. I learned about pianos the hard way. Up to about 40”, three good men could handle it on a stairway. Turns and landings make it harder. Big pianos on a level run can be dollied, and one or two steps are ok. Beyond that, it’s well worth a few hundred dollars for a professional piano mover. Typically, you get an experienced foreman who knows all the tricks and has all the right equipment, and helpers who are strong enough to handle the weight. And insurance if someone ends up crippled.

 

[bgmacaw]

or what electric keyboard would be the least discouraging substitute here?

MIDI keyboard with a good grand piano VST.



While I appreciate old fashioned pianos, and organs too, they just aren't that practical now in most circumstances, especially in a typical home. A good MIDI keyboard is a much better option and gives you the ability to easily create tracks like the one I posted.

 

[KeithDavies 100]

Moved loads of these in my teens. Piece of cake - you just need the right technique.

Oh, and probably you still need to be about 18!

 

[ClashCityTele]