As an expensive, beautiful, and often sentimental object, a piano carries a lot of weight in your home–literally. While most piano owners do their best to keep from ever having to move the instrument, it is sometimes necessary to put it in motion as the family relocates, as part of a renovation, or to be replaced.
Whatever the particular circumstances of your piano move, it can be tempting to gather a group of able-bodied friends and attempt to move it yourself. This can be a big mistake.
There are a number of very good reasons to seek out and use a professional piano mover when it comes time to play it elsewhere.
1. Damage to the Piano
Pianos are expensive. If you paid for it, you remember. The chances of damaging it in some way are very high when untrained people begin to lug and tug on a piano. If you’re lucky, it will just be some scratches in the finish.
If things go really wrong, you could tip it over and do major damage that will leave you with an unusable piano and a very expensive shopping trip to search for a new one.
2. Damage to the Building
Most pianos barely seem to fit where they’re used. They just make it through a door or around a corner, with enough clearance for a page of sheet music.
The chances are good that you’ll scratch walls, chip door trip, bend thresholds, or achieve some combination of those when you move a piano without expert help. This is bad enough in your own home but can be extra costly if you’re renting.
3. Damage to the Music
Keeping a piano in tune is hard enough when it’s stationary. Maintaining the appropriate pitch for all 88 keys is even harder after a move.
The pulling and twisting of unskilled movers are likely to make big changes to the sound of the instrument, adding slack to the strings and providing the next player with a surprise while giving you a tuning bill that quickly offsets some of what you saved by not hiring a mover.
4. Damage to the Movers
There are perhaps no truer friends than those who will help you move, and that sentiment is doubled with people who are willing to help you move a piano. Unfortunately, the job they signed up for often turns into injuries that they did not expect, often sustained as the piano suffers its own wounds.
Now there’s a trip to the emergency room with the corresponding expenses, and the piano is still not where it goes yet.
5. Insurance for All of the Above
That’s not to say that professional movers won’t encounter any of those problems. They just might. However, a reputable firm will have insurance that will cover all of those things, with the likely exception of the tuning. However, it is paramount that you confirm the company you hire has adequate insurance.
If they damage your piano, they’ll pay you. If they damage a building, they’ll pay the owner. If a worker is hurt, the bills will be paid.
Moving a piano is an unpleasant necessity sometimes, but it’s important to keep from making it even more unpleasant by trying to move it on the cheap. Hire a professional piano mover for a successful move.