John A. Tuttle writes in 011003 MMDigest:

> Charles Kelly's posting (011002 MMDigest) really strikes a nerve
> because I have to travel from New Jersey to Ohio in early November
> to repair the damage caused by the three grown men who recently moved
> a customer's Steck Duo-Art Reproducing Grand.  They were supposedly
> "Piano Specialists".  They rested the piano on the stack before
> tipping the piano onto the skid board, which damaged the stack.

I haven't yet damaged a lyre by tipping on it, although I remove the
lyre before tipping the vast majority of the pianos I move.  Believe
me, this is the subject of endless discussion among full-time piano
movers.  I tipped the last player grand I moved on the lyre because
I could find no other reasonable way to accomplish it, and it seemed to
work.  The piano was not damaged, and it certainly would have come out
of my pocket had it been.

Over the last three years I have paid _one_ claim for damage to a piano,
and that was not a failure of technique, but loss of concentration and
bad dolly steering that led to a piano falling onto a lawn.  Out of
several thousand moved, I can live with that.  I'm told by my regular
customers, three piano dealers, that I do less damage than any of my
competitors.

> ... we had the correct equipment to do the job.  The correct
> equipment includes two cinder blocks, a manual floor jack (or
> correctly sized 4x4-inch board), a skid board, three stair rollers,
> a 7-foot ramp, a dolly, and lots of movers straps and blankets.
> You should also have a socket wrench set, an assortment of screw
> drivers, and a leather mallet or rubber hammer (for legs and lyres
> that are 'wedged').

I carry all that (except the cinder blocks), and a lot more besides.
I carry: four different kinds of dollies, for different situations,
plus a stout two-wheel book dolly, which I sometimes use for picking
up a heavy grand on a skid;  skids in lengths of 5, 6, 7 and 9 feet;
rubber bands for securing the lid;  pieces of felt or packing foam for
placing between the fall board and the cheek blocks;  1-1/2-inch oak
dowels to use for rollers;  plywood and Masonite to protect floors;
various wood blocks and flat wood pieces for shims and spacers;
a black Magic Marker; a big assortment of small screws, toothpicks,
glue, etc.;  Allen keys (you can use a small one to replace a lost
hinge pin).

Some aspects of my every-day moving are (1) there is pressure to move
a lot of pianos, so taking a long time to do the job costs me money
(2) I always work with two other guys because things move faster, even
when two guys could easily do it, which means (3) we have plenty of
muscle on hand to compensate for using more labor-intensive (but
faster) methods.

Finding a place on the bottom of a player grand to prop it up is a
problem.  There doesn't seem to be a sturdy platform anywhere.  I would
_seriously_ like to see the factory literature on how the designer
expected this stuff to be moved.

Charles Kelly

 [ I'd like to know what the factory says about tipping the piano
 [ on the pedal lyre.  If the piano has been played aggressively
 [ the lyre mounting fixture is often quite weakened.  -- Robbie