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”
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Our Jr. High gym class lifted one off a stage once. Took the whole boys class, all period.
No one was killed, somehow.
As many others have stated, you move it however you can. Often times even when you’re moving up stairs or in tight spaces you don’t have any specialized equipment. The legs come off, you tip it on the side, put it on a dolly, grab some extra dudes and move it where it needs to go.
I once moved a piano into the choir loft of a church that was up a flight of 30 stairs with a U-shaped bend. Nobody believed me when I told them it was just me and 3 other guys lifting it like any other appliance.
Source: am a professional pianist.
In NYC if it’s too big for the elevator they block the street and hire a crane. They then bring it in though the window. Have to remove the windows sometimes. The illegal way is to bring the service elevator to the basement, force the doors open on the first floor and put the piano on top of the elevator car.
When I was 13 we lived in a second floor walk up and the stairway was narrow. When my mom sold the baby grand two guys came and first took off the legs. They weren’t tall but seemed kind of round. I think I thought they were fat. When I saw them just pick up the baby grand and go down the stairway with the piano tipping one way and then the other to get around the corners I realized: 1. They weren’t fat, it was all muscle: 2. They were very, very good at moving pianos!!
A lot of old dockside buildings in London which were once warehouses are now swanky apartments. Many of them still have cranes fitted to the outside, and they’re not just for show – they get used for moving big items of furniture into the apartments, including yes, pianos!
Check youtube for “moving pianos”. You will see that in most cases of grand and baby grand it’s definitely not a D.I.Y project. Especially if it is long distance and/or dealing with stairways and tight corners.
Some companies use remote controlled vehicles to move them up modular ramps over stairs. I personally have helped move several on custom dollies. The legs come off, and the piano is rapped in moving blankets and plastic wrap. It’s put on its side on the dolly and rolled out the front door
I moved pianos for years in NYC
Its called a sled.
The piano is stood on its side and a wooden frame, the sled, is assembled around it in two pieces . The frame is heavy duty and held together with straps and threaded clamps and giant carpet like material along the bottom of the sled. Part of the frame has handles that are extendable and adjustable.
No wheels. way to dangerous. Its safer to carry, or push.
On stairs, 2 guys on the front, lifting and pulling… 3 on the back going up, lifting, pushing and preventing it sliding back. Going down stairs, 3 in front, 2 in back. Managing turns on stairs is just math and muscle.
In all my experience, never once did we manually hoist a piano on a rope through a window.
An upright piano has a similar protocol only no sled, just lift and push.
I got pianos into remarkably small places back in the day
Specialist piano movers use a kind of judo move to flip a grand piano onto its side onto a very strong padded truck.
I worked in a music conservatoire for 40 years. I’ve seen it done dozens of times but it happens so fast it’s like magic.
Our Steinway D concert grands weighed three quarters of a ton and cost £180k. Some big name pianists travel with their own pianos and won’t use the pianos in the concert hall.
For smooth moves on the stage you need wide brass casters from Steinway- a snip at £800 – per wheel! You’ll be needing three.
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