moving with little notice

Pianos are not easy things to move. Even an upright piano is quite heavy and needs to be moved with care. It is the biggest reason why people often hire a separate piano moving company just to move their pianos when relocating. If you have a piano you have to move to your new home, here is how to avoid flattening it during travel. There are preparations you can make, as well as preparations and care that a piano-moving company will make, to protect your piano and keep it from being smashed flat. 

Blankets and Bubble Wrap for the Legs

If you have some spindles as part of the leg construction on an upright piano, you will want to follow this preparatory procedure just as you would for a baby grand or grand piano. First, wrap thick blankets around the legs or spindles. Secure the blankets with bungee cords or dense twine. Then wrap them again with bubble wrap as an extra cushioning measure. Doing so ensures that these areas of your piano, whether legs or spindles, will remain scratch-free and will not be accidentally nicked or broken during the move. 

Tape down the Key Lid

Your "ivories" and sharps need protection in transit too. The keyboard lid covers and protects the keys when you are not playing, but the lid can slide open during transport on a truck. Use an acid-free, residue-free tape to tape the key lid closed. Place the tape at three or four spots along the length of the keyboard lid, perpendicular to the seam of the closed keyboard. That way, your keys will be protected during transport, even if one or two pieces of tape fail. 

If You Have a Grand or Baby Grand, Remove the Lid

If you have a grand piano or a baby grand piano, then remove the lid over the sound box. Wrap the lid in moving blankets and then in bubble wrap. Wrap the soundboard with moving blankets as well. (Moving blankets are the quilted, padded, blanket-like things used to wrap delicate furniture items and prevent breakage during transport. If you do not have any moving blankets, the piano movers will have them. Just remove the lid for now.) Some piano movers like to move the lid still attached to the soundboard, but if the lid is especially heavy or made from a much softer wood, you will want to remove it and have it wrapped separately for transport. 

For more information, contact a company like Affordable Piano Movers & Storage.