My favorite move of all time was picking up a Steinway Grand from a
dance studio in New Orleans.  The piano was on the second floor of a
building that was starting to fall apart.  This was twenty plus years
ago and I was much younger.  We put the grand on a grand board and
proceeded down the stairs.

The piano would only go half way down the stairs as it got caught on
the second floor.  There was a lot of creaking wood sounds coming from
all over that building as we rolled the piano to the stairs.  This is
a good clue that piano movers should listen to in these old buildings.

We could not get the piano back up the stairs as there was only two of
us.  The stairs were too narrow for one of us to get around the piano
the help the other.  One of us was on top of the stairs and the second
was in front of the piano downstairs.

My "partner" for the day said, "Loosen the straps I have an idea."
We loosened the straps and as soon as they were loose I heard the truck
start thinking he was going to leave me stranded or go get help.  I was
leaning across the piano when all of a sudden the grand board was
jerked out from under the grand by the truck driver in the truck.

The piano dropped just enough to clear the second floor.  Now it was
free to move, and move it did -- it moved very quickly down those
stairs until it got caught on the door jam.  The door jam was not
strong enough to hold the piano so the door jam and part of the front
of the building went into the street with the piano.

The good news is the piano survived and was restored.  I don't know
about the building.

Don Teach