Piano Moving Fact: Pianos Are Heavy!

There are three types of pianos, which you need to know when moving your piano:

1. Grands
2. Uprights
3. Digitals

Within these three categories are subcategories, baby grand, standard grand, concert grand, for example, and spinet, console and studio for the upright. Within these subcategories the sizes vary to a large degree – but one thing remains the same – pianos are heavy!

Well, I should clarify: acoustic pianos are heavy (your digital keyboard is made to cart around easily). The weight breaks down this way:

1. Grands : 500-1200 lbs
2. Uprights: 300-700 lbs

While I haven’t put a piano on a scale lately (if ever), here is the calculation you can use to determine your piano’s approximate weight: 100 lbs/foot. Your grand piano size is determined by measuring from the front (keys) to the tail. I’ve seen 88 key grands as small as 4’6″ to as large as 9’6″. Typically they fall somewhere in between.

This works for uprights too, but measuring from the floor to the top of the piano. Spinets are 36″ tall and I haven’t even mentioned the LARGE uprights or upright grands which deserve to be in a category of their own, coming in at over 5″ tall. You often find these abandoned in basements – try getting that up a flight of stairs with just two people! (No, don’t, that is an accident waiting to happen). But, uprights come in many different heights.

So, speaking of moving a piano up a flight of stairs, what do you do when you need to move a piano? Let me say this loud and clear:

CALL A PROFESSIONAL PIANO MOVER!!!

Here’s an example of don’ts:

1. The pedal is not a handle, and will break if you try to use it as such.

2. The legs on the front of the console upright piano are for decoration only, they will break if you put any pressure on them when moving the piano.

3. The music desk is fastened with 2 small screws. It cannot take the pressure of a strap when securing the piano on your vehicle.

The fact is, Reeder Pianos, Inc. repairs a lot of pianos that were damaged by regular moving companies. Let me say that again a little differently: Most regular moving companies DO NOT know how to move pianos (even if they say that they do).

Moving a piano is no joke. There is a lot to learn and our new movers are given a 6-month window of on-the-job training with a piano mover with 10+ years of moving experience. The Reeder Pianos Moving Division ONLY MOVES PIANOS! We are professionals, so we make it look easy.

But, it isn’t easy if you don’t know what you are doing. Pianos are heavy.