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Hi Wilf:
I purchased (quite cheaply) another grand piano back in April and moved it with my brother and his son. The piano is a 5'11 with a professionally refinished case that was in absolutely perfect condition. We completed the move and set it up in my Dad's finished basement the same night without a single scratch or incident. I made the skid myself out of two 2x4s and a piece of particle board, all wrapped in some leftover carpet. I purchased the tie-down straps at Lowe's.
By far the most disappointing thing about moving a grand is that the U-haul trailers do not have tall enough doors to get a grand piano inside. There are some nice 5x8 covered trailers that I've seen with doors that are tall enough to handle a grand on its side, but I don't know anyone who rents those. So, we brought the piano home in my brother's 2002 Ford F-150. I had removed the action and the music desk, and brought all those home separately in my minivan, along with the bench. Then when I went to get the piano itself, I removed the lid, legs, and lyre, wrapped it in moving blankets I had and strapped it to the skid board. We managed to get it tilted easily up onto the tailgate of the truck, and then all lifted the other end up to slide it into the truck. I covered the opposite side of the truck in more moving blankets and gently let the piano down onto it. I strapped it down and off we went the 40 miles to my Dad's house. We set it up in my Dad's finished basement where I've been slowly dismantling it.
To see some pictures, check out my previous thread on this piano from back in March--

https://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2046253/Re:%201902%20Hazelton%20Bros%20Grand.%20.html#Post2046253

(Flickr's new format sure makes it difficult to get the URL to post here for pictures.)

I wanted to post pictures of the move and describe how successfully it went, but frankly I was afraid many people would criticize and lecture me on why I shouldn't have attempted this. Well, really it was quite an exciting event and it certainly gave me a great sense of accomplishment being able to do this with just the three of us and a pickup truck. I know for certain it would have been FAR easier if I could have used a nice covered trailer like the ones I've seen at a local trailer specialist dealer, but as I said those weren't for rent.

Now, I will readily admit that I wouldn't have even tried moving this in a pickup truck without the help of my brother's 17 year old son. He is one of the strongest 5'10, 160lb kids I've ever seen. My brother and I are both very small, but his son's incredible strength allowed us to get this piano up in the truck without much difficulty. No doubt, I also had minimized the piano's weight by removing every imaginable part I could.

As for steps, there were a few getting out of the previous owner's house. One step down to the front porch and then 3 down from the porch to the sidewalk. We managed those quite nicely on the dolly I purchased---although I wish I had purchased a more expensive dolly. I should have purchased one with bigger wheels, but other than that it worked well.

I did have some really nice pictures of what I have accomplished so far, but unfortunately my SSD drive where I had every picture and file stored, recently crashed and now I have to go retake all the pictures---for my documentation, etc, etc.


So, that's my grand moving story. I should have posted it earlier.
Oh, BTW, as I mentioned in the original post about this piano, I was correct that it was NOT a 7'9 piano. ;-)

Edited for formatting and a typo

I just bought a used Kawai grand and had a professional move it into my house. Afterward I was really glad I used the professional mover.

Some disassembly is required.

Pushing the piano over on its side can cause breakage. You just gotta know what you're doing at that time.

The thing is darned heavy. Mine is over 600 pounds.

And there is more if the move is complicated.

My mover had an automated lift on the back of the truck that made things much simpler.

And the mover had the piano well secured against the side of the truck panel inside.

Good luck if you move it on your own!

Bought my 5'6" grand 3 weeks ago. Granted, it was a freebie, so had I dropped it I would have been out very little.
Time was also a factor. It was free-- but he NEEDED it gone by the following Wednesday. Movers were booked for the next week.
Finally, the piano was 100 miles away. So when paying for someone's time, that 200 mile round trip meant a lot of hours-- I feared that I couldn't afford a mover to go that far anyway.

Borrowed a board and dolly from a semi-retired local technician I found through ptg, though yellow pages work too I'm sure.
A college isn't a bad idea either.
Or you can build one... but not worth it.

We rented a low uhaul trailer with a ramp. That made it very easy-- no steep angle down from the bed of a lifted pickup.
I bought a $23 sheet of low grade but real plywood from lowes to use a ramp up the porch. Got 4 friends and treated them to lunch. Watched some youtube videos. Hired a professional mover to load it where I was picking it up for $100 --just to load it-- and then unloaded in reverse with my friends into my house. There were no real difficulties.
I say go for it.
Prior advice given on methods, applies.


Ditto this comment:
"I moved my first grand in grad school. I had some verbal suggestions from a tech and a couple of guys and a tolerant helpful wife. I borrowed the piano board from the college and a dolly as well. It went pretty much without a hitch. Just remember not to allow the piano to rest on the lid hinges or the lid, lest you tear the hinges out of the case when the long part of the piano gets laid over and onto the piano board. As a newbie mover you might ponder removing both the lid and hinges just in case. It DOES help to see pros do this at least once. None of it is rocket science, but like many things, "easy for men that know how."

I have moved 3 grand pianos with the help of friends. One was from Michigan to New Jersey.

We had no problems, you just have to use due care like anything else. It sure sounds to me like you have the expertise to do it, like you say, it's not rocket science.

Additionally, I have read posts here about 'professional' movers creating disasters.

There are actually people who will tell you hire a pro to move a console piano 6 inches.

Just be aware of your abilities and plan carefully. Maybe video your experience and post it on Youtube?

Good luck.

We've never left a lid on when we move grands. Most movers will leave them on mainly because they don't want another piece to keep track of. We have road cases that we had made to house all parts including the action. If we are picking up a core we may leave the action in but if someone else owns it we will take it out which is why they are paying the big bucks. Regulation and alignment can get screwed up when you hit the first pothole with a piano sitting on its side.

I will be adding a segment to my website for comical relief of all the DIY moves we have photographed this past year. I have lots of pics of pianos gone airborne. Through trailer walls, out of pick up trucks and through windshields. The tie downs of choice for DIY is kite string or masking tape.

You need a few good tools to do a good move. A real dolly with a 1000 pound capacity, not the 9.99 harbor freight type. a jack ( made of 4 boards) 29 inches tall to lift the end that you are taking the 1st leg off of. Moving pads, not towels. Common sense knowledge of physics , gravity and geometry.
If you cannot deadlift at least 500 pounds and read the Magna-Carta while you are on a stairwell holding it back then you will need a helper.

Another thing to remember is most people will pick up something for lets say 30 seconds and say wow this isn't bad but get to stairs and you will be worn out within 3 steps. Don't get on any stairs alone.

So, thanks to all for their advice and ideas. My Kawai GM10 is now home and in good health. The move went well. We had to bring it down 13 stairs with a turn at the top. We did remove the lid to reduce weight. We then shrink wrapped the piano as seen in one of the videos recommended, and used about six moving blankets, to wrap the piano and the parts. We covered a board with carpet and foam to rest the piano on and strapped it down with several 1000 lb ratchets well padded with extra foam. All buckles were placed in such a way as to eliminate likelihood of damage. We had four people including my wife to help, the largest of us being about 150 lbs, so not really your strongest crew. I will say, that it was extremely heavy. We weren't really able to pick it up but rather skidded it along. We put a roll of rubber matting on the stairs as the home owner was very concerned about his new carpet. This worked to make it so that we practically had to pull the piano down the stairs rather than hold it back. We then muscled it onto a wheeled dolly to move to the front porch. We backed the pickup truck up to the stairs and only had to go down six inches to get it into the box. Once in the back of my Dakota, we secured it with several good ratchets (1 1/2" and 2" straps). We kind of used overkill here to make sure there was no possibility of it shifting. When we arrived at my place we had to lift it up onto our deck. We just happened to have a 20 ton crane truck sitting in my yard (related to my business). So this made the lift onto the deck quite easy. So all is well and the piano is immaculate.

I wouldn't recommend this to just anyone, and I don't plan to go into the business, but it can be done as long as you take lots of precautions and care. In our case time was an issue. I don't imagine most people have access to a crane truck when you need it either. Another time, I would likely just use a mover.

Thanks again for all the input, cautions and recommendations. At some point I may post some pictures.
Now back to enjoying my first ever grand piano.

Wilf

Sounds like it went well, Wilf!

Congratulations! And, I hope no one has a back ache...

I have a friend in the piano moving business who has helped me out a few times... he is about 6'2" and 275 lbs, mostly muscle. Thing is, he expects me to lift just as much weight as he does, but it ain't gonna happen.

We'd love to see pictures of your new-to-you Kawai baby grand!

Rick

Glad it went well and nobody got hurt or the piano. I'm about 150lbs as well and moving a piano wouldn't be my first choice either, especially if there weren't at least 1-2 big guys.

I thought some type of furniture dolly with wheels is supposed to be used for at least part of the trek, no? I thought I saw the guys use some type of heavy-duty furniture dolly (with wheels) when coming up the stairs. Well, I was trying not to watch them too closely thinking it would make them nervous.

Good thing you had a 20-ton crane laying around.

Congratulations !!! I can't imagine undertaking something like this, but how great to hear about your success. Would love to see pictures as well. Most importantly, enjoy your new piano.

Congrats on the new piano and the successful move. Glad to hear it went well!