Where this is truly the case, you'll definitely want to subscribe to our piano moving instruction where we teach you how to move your piano correctly, be it an upright piano or a grand piano. This is because of all of this potential piano moving danger.

Then, when our piano moving teachings are carefully and diligently followed, you should have a successful piano move, without injury to your crew members or damage to your piano. But are you absolutely sure that there is no other alternative?

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• I don't know?

Then let's look into some circumstances that appear to force people into the danger of piano moving.

1. I just can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars so I'll have to move my piano myself!

Maybe you can't, but before you leap ahead too fast trying to save your money by moving your piano yourself, add into your plan the terrible possibility of an unexpected severe injury!

• 
• ???

Or can you afford to be off from work and go unpaid for some protracted period of time because during the piano move your back goes out, your knee gets broken, a shoulder socket is permanently disabled, or you break an arm / wrist / hand / finger or a hip / leg / ankle / foot / toe?

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• Ouch!

How about if that severe injury should instead happen to a friend / relative of yours who is helping you move your piano and he is eventually forced by financial pressures to sue you, thus ruining your relationship?

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• Grrr!

Then again, supposing the piano is moved without any personal injury to the movers but in the process its sound board is damaged or a big, long, deep scratch is gouged into its fine finish or a caster digs a big divot into your brand new hardwood floor or the deck / porch is damaged from the accumulated weight of the piano and the men.

• 
• Jeez!

Now, compared to such bleak scenarios as these or the terrible piano moving catastrophy mentioned on the prior page, the few hundred dollars that you would have to pay to a professional piano moving company turns into a very inexpensive, excellent bargain, doesn't it?

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• Yeah, I guess so.

That is, if you use a qualified piano mover who can prove to you that they have full workmen's compensation insurance for their men and full property liability coverage for each residence and for your piano.

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• They'd better!

2. My friends and I are big strong guys. The piano's not really that big. Look I can lift one end by myself. Sure it's a little heavy, but with three or four of us it shouldn't be that hard to move.

You and your illustrious friends might actually be able to move the piano successfully. However, without correct piano moving technique and without a good piano dolly, piano belt and a strong humpstrap, you won't!

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• ???

If you're going to encounter four or less consecutive low steps at any given place in the move path, you'll be taught to utilize our piano moving techniques of tipping and lifting or lowering the piano on the dolly. In the piano move pictured below but you can see how easy it should be ( IF the movers keep careful control of the piano) to move the piano down one step on the dolly as this mover is about to do. In reality it looks a lot easier than it really will be because of the extreme weight of the piano but he does it successfully.

When there are more than four consecutive steps along the move path (as was the case in the piano move pictured below) you'll have to actually carry the piano as these movers are about to do. A piano carry is necessary because there are 6 consecutive steps to be traversed (not all of the steps shown are shown in the picture) off of this home's porch.

Throughout a piano carry, good balance is necessary and can only be accomplished when the whole crew is working in unison and properly utilizing their piano moving equipment.The part of piano carrying that requires skill and concentration is keeping the piano in balance (not allowing it to wobble (RealPlayer plugin required to view this clip) much from left-to-right and / or from front-to-back) while actually carrying it up / down steps.

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• Hmmm?

You or someone on your crew could badly wrench their back or incur any of the injuries mentioned above and / or even heavily damage the piano if it gets severely out of balance and you have to let go of it.

Remember, all piano moving dangers come from gravity and inertia constantly fighting you. If the piano doesn't stay balanced constantly during the moving process, very bad things can happen very, very rapidly, just like in a nuclear meltdown! When the piano starts to go, suddenly there is just no stopping it!

• 
• Oh my!

Also, sometimes when moving a piano up / down stairs, a banister has been known to fail right in the middle of the move! If the movers are leaning on it at that time catastrophic things can occur!!

In the piano moving trade the person on the bottom holding the main part of the piano and carrying most of the weight is described as the man on "heavy" and he really is! During a piano carry, when a man's positioned on heavy, the blood can almost come out of his eyes

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• Jeez!

Even with the smallest piano, the weight that can be dumped onto that bottom person is immense! An unbalanced piano means that 350 - 500 lbs. minimum(!) for a small upright piano and 600 -1000 lbs. for a grand piano or a big upright, can all be mostly dumped onto the guy on heavy!

• 
• Aaargh!

This is why mover's backs can go out so easily. Everyone on the crew can be a big strong guy, just like your friends are, but this kind of weight in an unbalanced situation is just humanly impossible for even the strongest man to handle without injury.