G'day,  Anyone who has visited Australia will know that tipping waiters,
taxi drivers etc. is not so usual in this country, mainly due to the
regulated pay structures, and so I would have a big problem with having
to tip a grand ($1000!).

Tipping a grand player piano, however, is something I will need to do
soon, but have not yet tried.  One thing that bothers me about the
techniques suggested to date is the possibility of accidents due to
unplanned rolling on the castors at a critical moment.   Is it sufficient
to just turn them sideways?   My house has polished wooden floors which
would mark badly from the edge of a metal castor but I am worried that
sufficient protective padding might make the piano liable to move about.
I guess strips of softer wood under the castors might do the trick.

I will need to remove the pump soon from my Steck grand -- is it better
to do this horizontally or after tipping?  I have heard some gruesome
stories of accidents when help wasn't available, but I don't suppose it's
all that easy even when the piano is tipped.  A trolley type car jack
might be useful for this and maybe for the action or other heavy parts.
Any thoughts?  I can see possibilities for other automotive repair
devices like a  mechanic's flat trolley for crawling underneath and how
about an hydraulic hoist or a pit!

By the way, prior to 1966 the Australian currency was similar to the old
British pound/shilling/pence, and the two shilling coin (= 20 cents) was
labeled "one florin", although it was never called that and was usually
known as "two bob".  There were also "crowns" (5 shillings) and half
crowns, although these were archaic and not normally in circulation.

We didn't have guilders but we did have a curious denomination called
"guineas" which were used often in pricing but didn't actually exist!
It was worth one pound + one shilling (21 shillings) and was used to make
the listed price look cheaper (59 guineas was actually nearly 63 pounds).
All that disappeared with decimal currency.

Cheers,

Darrell Clarke
Adelaide, Australia