Moving a piano isn’t simply like moving another piece of furniture.

Pianos are complex mechanical devices and acoustic instruments that require very careful handling when being transported. Whether your kids are learning to play a simple song on your piano or a professional musician performs a wide variety of musical composition on his – anyone who owns one treasures it for its beautiful style and extraordinary notes.

That’s why when it comes time to move your piano, you’ll need to work with someone with the expertise and the right equipment to do it safely. Not only do you want to avoid damage to the beautiful outward finish, but more importantly, you want to ensure there’s no damage done to its delicate inner-workings.

How Professional Piano Moving Works

Becoming a professional piano mover requires an extensive period of training under a master/journeyman piano mover. Over decades, the techniques used have been developed to accommodate the unique features of all different types of pianos, including: spinet, upright, baby-grand and grand pianos.

Since pianos weigh heavily and are awkwardly shaped, they require three or four strong movers (trained to handle pianos) and a number of specialized pieces of equipment to be moved. Keep in mind the smallest piano weighs up to 600 lb. and a grand piano can scale over 1200 lb.

Piano Moving Tools and Disassembly

Along with trained expertise, professional movers use a variety of tools like: quilted moving pads, piano skids, piano dollies, slings and ramps to carefully move the piano on and off the truck. Keep in mind, some pianos need to be partially disassembled to be moved safely. This is usually the case with larger baby grand or grand pianos.

Disassembly typically involves the removal of the music rack, the lid, pedal assembly and the legs. Great care must be taken when removing screws, hinges and other hardware. All pieces are carefully wrapped in clean moving pads, which are taped closed and small hardware pieces are placed in labelled boxes. Sometimes photos are taken to show existing condition/positioning of certain hardware pieces to make re-assembly easier.

Once the legless piano is properly positioned and the piano board is securely strapped in place, the piano can be moved to the piano dolly. If your piano needs to be moved down stairs, professional movers will pad the staircase with moving pads then tilt the piano and carefully carry the piano skid down the stairs.

A solid ramp/walking board is also required to move pianos up onto the truck and pianos are always positioned securely inside the vehicle with its keyboard facing the wall.

For more information on hiring a qualified piano mover, contact your local Premiere Van Lines office.