After reading all the talk about moving player grands, I was really
surprised that no-one talked about the "Piano Horse".  The first time
I saw this in operation I knew I had to have one.  It was a bit
expensive but after using it I can say with no hesitation that it is
worth every penny they ask.

You can totally justify its purchase by figuring out how much money you
can save on per person moving rates.  I believe that the usual estimate
for how many people are needed to move a grand is one man for every
foot of piano.  My husband and I have moved all the grands with this
little item ourselves and NO DAMAGE to the instruments.

We had a chance to really test it when we moved a 1903 6'4" Knabe that
has got to be the heaviest piano we have ever had to deal with, easily
weighing 150 pounds more that any other piano of this size.  A piano
this heavy would normally sheer off the lyre, which is usually used as
an aid in lowering the piano to the board and dolly, but the Piano
Horse takes all the weight (and the lyre doesn't touch the ground or
need to be removed first).

The other piano which really tested it was a 6' Weber Duo-Art which had
been on its side, on the floor, for 20 years with all of its workings
still attached and intact.  We also reduced the weight a bit by first
removing the pump and motor but left everything else where it was.

The Piano Horse sits where the tubing lies under the front of the piano
and had to improvise padding so as not to crush the tubing (I have some
ideas to improve that aspect of the move).  The main problem was that
it was not on a board and had to be tipped enough to get it onto the
board.  For this move I was using the self-lifting truck that I got
from Schaff to transport it across country (a combination board/dolly
that eliminates taking the piano off a dolly for transport).

The small end of the piano had to be raised before tipping because of
the double legs, but the whole process took about one-half hour from
start to finish, with only the two of us and one extra person to help
stabilize and lift the small end to gain the height we needed.  The
Piano Horse did all it was supposed to and then some.  The man I bought
the piano from had had movers move his Steinway Duo-Art and it took
5-men-plus to do the job, and the pump pulley got messed up in the
bargain.

I would wholeheartedly recommend this product for anyone moving
grands, including concert size.  I can't find the address offhand
but they are located in Texas:

  Piano Wrangler Equipment Co.
  tel: 512-452-6458

I'm sure they would be happy to send information to anyone requesting
it.  This was shown at a PTG Convention two years ago -- no more banged
up corners, sheered off lyres or broken legs ... Amazing!

Ana Gerard