How To Move A Piano

This will be the ten-year-old's guide moving a piano then. Useless!

JBauer

A note from the "expert".. A few critical points are left out and I would like to clarify some points... I always suggest to use a piano mover as your first choice.. if you don't know a piano mover, call your local piano store for a suggestion. Even if it is a move from one side of a room to another... a piano mover will do a better job of lifting and moving, or they will disassemble the piano completely and roll it to the right location. However, if you absolutely MUST do it yourself, here are some guidelines.. 1) the video states a grand piano's weight is mostly in the back. This is false (I think the crew misinterpreted this from a discussion abotu uprights, where the weight is indeed heavier in the rear). IN a grand piano, there is slightly more weight in the front, but it is mostly evenly distributed actually. 2) when moving a grand, make sure to lift slightly to take some vertical pressure off the legs, otherwise the leg structure could get damaged or break under the extreme horizontal force 3) Most grands have casters, but very few grands have casters that would roll on carpet, making it increasingly important to lift some of the weight off the legs when moving. 4) When moving an upright, most of the weight is in the rear. These generally weigh an average of about 600 lbs. you can push the upright around like a couch, but be mindful it can damage the floor or carpet - like grands, most wheels on the uprights aren't very functional. on thicker carpet, you may have to lift most the weight just to get it to move at all. 5) If an upright has front legs that are not anchored to the body, then these can easily snap off under the horizontal stress of moving the piano. On pianos like these, make sure to lift pressure off the front legs (these are typically pianos that are 36" - 46" tall). 6) For upright pianos, there is a four wheeled dolly movers use that has large rotatable rubber wheels and a flat top. The piano can be lited onto the dolly making it easier to roll over longer distances. Usually piano stores will have one laying around, perhaps they will loan it to you! 7) nitpicky point about temperature: the ideal temp for a piano is NOT 68 degrees (it's what the reading was on our thermostats, lol). Pianos like 40 percent relative humidity and a consistant temperature of somewhere between 70 & 80 degrees.

So pretty much, you just need to use turning and have multiple people. This was of no help. This doesn't help owners of uprights or people whose carpet gets in the way of the casters.