The difference between a crew equipped for a piano and a crew that is not shows up in the first five minutes, and it is rarely about strength. It is about whether the piano can be pivoted instead of lifted, held instead of balanced, and set down instead of dropped the last inch.
Almost every piece of kit below exists to remove a moment where somebody would otherwise have to guess.
The piano dolly
The single most important item, and not the same object as a furniture dolly.
- Rotational casters. It pivots in place. A piano can be turned at a stair landing or a doorway without anyone lifting an end, and a piano that is never lifted is a piano that is never dropped.
- A frame rated for concentrated weight. An upright puts several hundred pounds through a small footprint, not spread over a load bed. A general-purpose dolly is rated for distributed cargo, which is a different problem.
- A low deck. The lower the piano sits, the lower the centre of gravity, and the less it wants to tip on a ramp.
A standard furniture dolly puts the case too high and can only turn by lifting one end. That is where scratched cases and stressed legs come from.
The board, for grands
A grand piano cannot pass a standard doorway on its legs. So the legs and the lyre come off and the case travels on its side on a piano board — a long padded skid the case is strapped to.
The board is doing something specific: spreading the case's weight along the whole rim rather than through whichever point happens to be touching the floor. Without one, the case gets rested on its bare rim during the leg removal and again at the far end, and that is exactly where joinery gets stressed and finish gets marked.
An upright does not need a board. A grand always does, which makes it a fair question to ask before booking: is a board coming?
Straps that hold their tension
Cargo straps hold a load in a truck. Piano straps hold the piano to the dolly, through pivots and stair turns, from four anchor points — two across the case and two tying the case ends to the frame.
The distinction that matters is ratchet, not cam buckle. Cam buckles creep under sustained vibration; over an hour of road they loosen, and a piano that has loosened on a dolly is a piece of equipment nobody wants to be under on a staircase. Ratchets hold their tension for the length of the job.
Blankets, in layers
Several heavy quilted blankets per instrument, and coverage means coverage: top, sides, back, and every removed component wrapped separately — each leg individually, the lyre and pedals as one assembly, the music desk, the key cover.
One blanket thrown over the top is not protection. It is a gesture that leaves every corner exposed, which is where the impacts actually land.
Corner guards and stretch wrap
Corner guards go under the blankets. Corners take the hits — a stair landing turn, a doorway brush — and cardboard or foam takes them instead of the case.
Stretch wrap goes over the blankets to stop them shifting. It sounds trivial and it is not: unwrapped blankets slide off on the first turn, and a piano arrives at the truck with its corners bare. Wrap goes over the blankets, never against the finish.
Floor protection at both ends
Runners or reusable protection laid from the piano's spot to the truck, at both addresses, before anything moves. A loaded piano dolly concentrates a great deal of weight on small wheels; hardwood, laminate and tile will all show it.
This is part of the job, not an add-on, and it should be going down before the crew touches the instrument rather than after somebody notices a mark.
The things that are not equipment
Half of what protects a piano is not on the truck.
- Crew size and experience. A piano wants a crew sized to the instrument and the route, led by someone who has done it before. Two strong people and a hope is the most common failure mode, and it is a people problem, not a kit problem.
- A measured route. Doorway widths, stair turns, landing depths, lift interiors — checked at the quote, so the answer to "does it fit" is known before the piano is off its casters.
- A tool kit for the building. A tight stair turn sometimes needs a short section of banister taken off and reset. That is planned, not improvised.
- A written plan for the day. Which door, which route, which order, how many people, and what happens if the weather turns.
Aftercare
A moved piano needs tuning, and the moving is not really why. What unsettles a piano is the change in humidity and temperature between two rooms, and it takes a few weeks to equalise.
So let it settle in its new home before the technician comes. Tuning it the day after delivery means tuning it again a month later.
What to ask before you book
Five questions. The answers tell you most of what you need to know:
- Is a piano dolly with rotational casters coming? For any piano.
- Is a piano board coming? For any grand. If the answer is vague, that is the answer.
- Ratchet straps or cam buckles?
- How many people, and has the lead moved this type before?
- Has anyone measured the route, or is that happening on the day?
A crew that answers those precisely is a crew that has thought about your specific instrument. A crew that says "we've moved loads of pianos" has answered a different question.
The short version
Rotational-caster dolly, a board for grands, four-point ratchet straps, layered blankets over corner guards, stretch wrap, floor protection at both ends — and a crew and a route that were planned before the day rather than during it.
Send a photo, the brand and the stair count with your move details and you will get the equipment list, the crew size and the plan for your instrument in writing before anything is booked. Our piano moving page covers how uprights and grands differ on the day.