We’re in the final stages of relocating to the pacific northwest and soon I’ll be driving a rented 16-24 foot moving truck with the last load. We’d like to bring our baby grand piano. I’m torn between hiring a national piano moving company to the tune of $1500 vs. just hiring muscle on both ends and moving in the rental truck.
Any experience, knowledge, or advice? Thanks in advance.
My husband moved pianos for,years as a professional theater technician.
HOWEVER…when it came to moving our piano…we hired movers. They have piano dollies, the right wrapping blankets, and they guarantee not to damage your instrument.
He said…hire the movers if you really like that piano.
What thumper said!
We moved our baby grand piano overseas, back, to a new apartment, etc. It is a 4 people job and it needs to be crated for long distance.
Could you get piano movers to crate it and put it on the truck and another set at the other end to get it into the house? Even if I were driving the loaded truck myself (ugh!), I would hire movers to load it and then another set to unload it at the other end.
My uncle delivered a baby grand to me. I died when I saw it had been on a fishing boat trailer as it crossed the country.
OP again. Thanks everyone!
My initial inclination is along the lines of what @sylvan8798 suggested. I’m assuming we can get it wrapped/crated and loaded for a couple hundred $, transport it at basically no marginal expense, and unload, set up, and tune it for a few hundred more.
I’ll also confirm our auto insurance will cover the move.
Auto insurance?
Do,you have instrument insurance on your piano? We do. You might want to get that.
^ I’ve never considered it. It’s a nice piano, but it isn’t particularly valuable. What would instrument insurance cover?
As for auto insurance covering the move, I’ve already confirmed with my agent that my policy covers the rental truck, but now I’ll inquire about damage to my possessions during the move.
We have a Rider for our all of our instruments on our homeowners. For any that leave the house for professional reasons (and some do) we have insurance through Clarion. Check there for the piano.
I would NOT move a piano without insurance from someone for damage.
Actually…that is why we would hire movers. And like I said…,my husband moved pianos as a theater tech for years. It is NOT easy to do. Period.
What happens if you pack it in your UHaul truck…and something happens and another thing damages the packing box and the piano.
If it’s not worth $1500 then sell it…and be done with it.
If it’s,worth more than that…$1500 to move it,a long distance…with the guarantee of a safe move…is worth it…to me.
We moved a piano. OMG, what a mistake. The inertia of something that heavy is serious. When you say you’ll hire muscle on both ends…does this muscle have insurance? If someone is terribly injured, who is liable? I’m only asking cause I ruptured a disk trying to move ours, and inexperienced people get injured often. Hire the movers. Seriously. There are few things I regret more than failing to do so.
We just have a Boston upright. We paid about $6000 for it, so it’s nowhere near as valuable as a baby grand, but we have paid professionals to move it every single time.
We’ve moved a basic upright piano several hundred miles. It cost to move it about what the piano was worth but we were being given the piano. The piano mover was very professional and made it look easy. I’d use the piano mover unless you can get professional (as in piano movers, not regular movers) help on both ends to move it into and out of the truck and secure it well. Driving the truck between locations is the easy part.
I’d hire a mover.
We moved a piano from the US to England so different crews on each end and all items enclosed in giant wooden crates for shipping. When the team of 3 guys was unloading in England they started making jokes about the crate labeled piano. “Ha, ha, they must have reused an old crate and didn’t cross off the label.” We assured them that there was indeed a piano in there and the laughter stopped. They hadn’t been told there was a piano in the shipment so they didn’t have any of the equipment to move it, not even a ramp for the truck. It was just an upright but still. Somehow those three guys managed to lift it down and get it into the house safely.
I would pay any amount to avoid having a ruptured disc. Ouch!
My husband is sitting right here. He says…$1500 to pack and move a piano a long distance is well worth the money…well worth it.
And remember…he is the one experienced in moving pianos.
We paid piano movers for move across town. Nerve racking to see them do it (Steinway grand), I’d hate to see just some moving guys try it! Of course value of piano could impact decision. H love his piano and it re-dates me so - spared no expense.
Our piano is only worth bout $3000 or so. Still…I would,hire movers. We use it, and like it.
You pretty much have to get movers with piano moving experience, rather than just burly guys or movers without experience. Even our drop-action spinet weighs 500 lbs, and the front legs would snap off if you weren’t careful so they always take them and the top right off. I always swore I would never have friends move the piano, even when I was young and single and lugging it from apartment to apartment 6 times. Once they took it from a 2nd floor apartment to a 3rd floor one. In houses, not with an elevator, like.
This is a grand piano. The legs will need to be taken off…and it will need to be properly crated and packed. It will then need to be loaded on a truck. Please picture the size of that box, and the expertise it will take to move it.
Once on the truck, it will need to be secured properly so that it does NOT move around, and nothing can smash into that box and damage it,
When you get to the other end, the big box will need to be taken off the truck and moved into the house. Legs will need to be reattached.
Oh…and I can tell you first hand…if there are stairs involved…it’s even harder to do.
Professional piano movers are the way to go…and if you found someone to,do this for $1500 for a long distance move…with a guarantee for no damage…that is a bargain, in my opinion.