03 · Uprights, baby & concert grands
Piano moving,
eighty-eight keys, one deliberate route.
A piano is not furniture — it is six hundred to twelve hundred pounds of tension,
veneer and memory.
So the instrument,
its finish and the route get read together,
and the plan you sign names the handling,
the protection and the conditions at both ends before a single caster turns.
Piano board & skid · Four-point strapping · Route measured first
ILLUSTRATIVE PROTECTION PLAN · READ FROM THE INSTRUMENT OUT
Five decisions between the road and the soundboard.
One crate, opened. The front wall is off and the lid is clear, so the layers between the road and the soundboard stand in the order they go on — the instrument, what touches it, what wraps it, what seals it, and the conditions it travels in.
- 01
Finish isolation
Contact protection and restraint placement are chosen for your instrument's finish and geometry — and the plan names every point that touches it.
CONTACT PLAN · DOCUMENTED
- 02
Pad method
The written plan records the pad type, the coverage it gives and how it is fastened, so the wrap on the day is the wrap you read.
PAD METHOD · WRITTEN
- 03
Barrier option
A moisture barrier goes on when the instrument, the route and the conditions call for one, and the plan states which of the three asked for it.
BARRIER · SPECIFIED BY ROUTE
- 04
Crate option
Custom crating is specified in writing: material, dimensions, who builds it, and how it closes around the instrument.
CRATE · BUILT TO SPEC
- 05
Transit environment
The conditions and restraint checks available for your route are named, and the terms you accept are recorded before anything is booked.
CONDITIONS · CONFIRMED PER ROUTE
The manifest
Tuned to the instrument.
Every piano move starts with three questions: what type, where it is going, and what it is leaving and landing on. The wrong answer to any of them is how pianos get damaged — so the instrument is planned first and the route second, and the quote records the accepted scope, the equipment, the protection method and anything excluded from it.
01The right rig for the instrument
Uprights and consoles roll on a dedicated dolly; grands come apart — legs, lyre, pedals — and ride a piano board on their bare side, by design. Which rig your instrument gets, and any component removal it needs, is named in the assessed plan.
02Multi-layer blanket wrap
Pads on the case, the legs, the lyre and the pedals — the parts that take the impact in a real move — finished so nothing shifts in transit. The plan lists the contact points, barriers and fastening method chosen for your instrument's finish.
03Four-point strapping
Ratchet-strapped to the board so the instrument never leaves it through a doorway, a stair turn or a tight landing. Restraint type and placement are documented before the piano enters the route.
04A route called before the lift
Stairs, turn radii, clearances and the landing zone are measured on the walkthrough, never discovered on move day. The quote names the crew plan and any specialist work the route calls for.
05Transit conditions, in writing
Soundboards and veneer care what they travel through. Your move plan states the vehicle and environmental options available for your route, and how they are monitored on the way.
06Protection terms to read first
Piano coverage carries item-specific limits and exclusions. The current written terms for your instrument and your route are yours to read before you book — not after.
Protocol
Keys, casters, concert calm.
Measure everything first
Piano type, stairwells, doorways, turn radii, parking distance — send photos and dimensions, and the assessment comes back naming what we can accept and anything that still needs a closer look.
Wrap, strap, board
Padded in layers, strapped four ways, grands on the board with legs and lyre cased separately — and the instrument gets a manifest line of its own, its condition recorded before it moves.
Roll, place, level
Escorted through the route it was planned for and set down in the room it was promised. Levelling, reassembly and tuner coordination are yours when the plan says so — we would rather write it down than assume it.
Uprights, baby grands and concert grands — carried between homes, stages and studios. Route, handling method, transit conditions and protection terms are confirmed instrument by instrument, move by move.
Related services · Locations · Availability confirmed per move
Questions
Asked before the first lift.
Can you move a piano up or down stairs?
Often, yes — plenty of piano moves include stairs. What decides it is the stairwell width, the turn radius, the landings, the surfaces and the instrument's own weight, so we measure before we answer. You will know what is possible, and what equipment or specialist work it takes, before move day rather than during it.
Will the piano need tuning after the move?
Almost certainly — moving changes a piano's room, and the room changes the piano. A qualified technician is the right person to set the timing once the instrument has settled into its new humidity, better than any fixed interval, and we are glad to point you to one near the destination.
Is the piano actually covered while it travels?
Piano coverage carries item-specific limits and exclusions — that is true of every mover, ours included. So you receive the current written terms for your instrument and your route before you book, and you get to read them rather than discover them.
How should I prepare for a piano move?
Photos and dimensions do most of the work: the instrument type, the spaces at both ends, and every stair and turn between them. From there the crew, the handling method, the route and the exclusions are set down in writing before anyone touches a key.
Next step
Tell us about the piano.
Tell us the route, the date and what needs care on the way. A coordinator reads it and writes back — a real person, in writing, before anything is booked.
Route, date and access · Confirmed in writing · A starting brief, not an accepted scope or booking