D.L. Bullock Reminded me of my first Piano moving rig and rebuilding
place, which if I still used, my customers would be horrified.

When I was 16 years old, many people in our area were giving away fine
old uprights, and sometimes a player.   If all the odd places to sell
pianos from, I sold them out of a tobacco barn, and despite this, they
sold well.  My Dad had helped me put in a presentable floor and walls
in part of the barn.

True to my "Hillbilly" appearance at the time, so was my moving rig.
Are you ready for this?  Dad had a John Deere four-wheel flat bed
wagon, and I moved many a piano with that thing. all I had to do is to
place the piano parallel with the wagon, and then slide the piano on the
flatbed - on it's back. We pulled it with an Old Checker Marathon, then
from the house to the barn, we used the tractor.

There was a pickup truck camper shell, that was hinged in the right side
of the wagon with barn hinges. once the piano was in place, and tied,
I lowered the camper shell over the piano. this prevented it from
getting wet if it rained on the way home.

Tobacco Barns have "pull throughs" so it wasn't a problem at all to
unload the pianos inside, even by myself, thinks to a sliding chain
hoist  This may invoke gales of laughter from the professionals, but
I restrung many a piano laying on the bed if that old hay wagon, and I
really miss working outside.

Folks came from miles around to see and buy my rebuilt pianos. A rebuilt
piano with a nice finish and new keytops did look out of place there,
and on damp days, I had to maintain light bulbs in every one of them.
From 1978 to 1984, I repaired around 60-75 units there.

After being used to that Barn, the 12 X 24" space I use seems a little
small, but at least climate control is far better than the "old days"

Andrew Taylor
Tempola Music Rolls