Paul, the Kari-Keens piano moving trucks are great tools; I love
mine! I found mine new on the Internet and prices there varied
quite a bit. I've not yet found anyone with a used set that wants
to let them go. I think I paid around $350 for mine.
Piano tilters, though, can be found on the used marketplace. You
might ask a local tuner to ask his Piano Technicians' Chapter if anyone
knows of one for sale. That's how I got mine and now I don't know how
I "lived" without one! I think I paid about half of what a new one
costs. It has more than repaid its purchase price in repair jobs it
has allowed me to do easily, including re-gluing the bottom of an
upright back together.
That was a scary job; I let all the tension off the strings _slowly_,
then glued the posts and bottom beam together and changed the plate
wood screws to machine bolts and used inserted nuts on the back side
of the wood. The plate settled back down and the piano has remained
stable ever since -- and what a change in tone as the repair improved
the downbearing on the bridge.
David Dewey
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