Seriously, how do piano movers/people move grand or baby grand pianos to places, anywhere? But especially to either small spaces, up stairs, or for example, an apartment/penthouse in a tall building in NYC? I know it happens. It seems very difficult. Explain plz haha
edit for punctuation because my keyboard is broken oh 2nd edit – yeah genuinely no pun intended with the word “keyboard”
In: 117
Moving them in their normal orientation would be nearly impossible. So the legs can usually come off so that they can be moved on its side on moving dollies. That gets it through most doors and hallways. Stairs are indeed difficult and are usually avoided; you won’t see many pianos in places with only stair access. For the high-rise apartments and other large buildings, elevators exist, and are often required above a certain height of building.
I have moved my parents grand piano a couple times, the legs unscrewed, leaving us with just the keys and strings, and we could take off the lid, pedals and, keys cover so they don’t break, we then wrapped it up in plastic, the first few times we carried it with a few of us, one time we slid it on the ground on a blanket. Basically you move it however you can.
Granted this piano is very old, and one side isn’t even sanded so it’s not exactly pristine. Was built in England late 1800’s
Remember old Looney Tunes or whatever where some character would get hit by a Grand Piano falling off a crane. Window and balcony permitting (can they opened big, or removed/ deconstructed and replaced/reconstructed by financially feasible means) it was actually an option.
Many old NE city walk-ups require hiring a construction team to remove a window, hiring a crane team, hiring a police detail, filing with the city etc. That’s for more than just pianos. A friend in Boston spent > $20k moving into a back bay condo in the 00’s. The stairs are just physically impossible to move furniture through
I was asked to help move one by my friend Fred – he thought we ought to be able to do it together. No chance. He called his friend Charlie, same story, [we was getting nowhere…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5XX9LX2es4)
I moved an upright once. Well I didn’t move it, the piano mover dudes did. Two guys, the biggest humans I’ve seen. Absolute units. They put some strap under/around the piano and attached it to some kind of harness they were wearing. Then just ”1-2-3 lift”. Very impressive
Professionals remove the legs and place it on its side on a trolley, wheel it to its location.
There’s a company in Boston called “Death Wish Piano Movers” that specialize in moving pianos and other large objects to “impossible” locations. They even had a short-lived reality tv series…
I worked for a moving company. 5 guys for a baby grand. You have to pick it up and rotate it in the air on it’s side onto a cart as the legs will break with very little sideways pressure. Then you take the legs off and roll the cart around. It’s difficult and stressful.
As others posted, usually you move the grand piano on its side, remove the legs and then you can move it up the stairs or into an elevator that way.
If that is not possible, you can always [use a crane](https://www.umzugsbewertungen.com/move/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2015/05/Fl%C3%BCgel-Krantransport.jpg)
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