moving a Stienway Grand

[Glenn Grafton]

>Someone visiting our Web page asked us the following question:
>
> "For a concert series that we host every summer, our Stienway must be
>moved a great deal.  I'm wondering if there is a way to move our piano
>up onto the stage, a 3 ft. lift, using a jack or pully type system
>instead of brute man power.  Do you know of any system on the market
>that may help us?"
>
>We thought that you might know of something that would do the trick.
>
>Yours,
>STEINWAY & SONS
>
>Stephen K. Dove

I've looked through a number of the catalogs we have on piano moving
equipment and there is nothing that is available that I can see that could
be used to lift a grand onto a stage.

Two solutions come to mind:

There are products made that are used in shipping areas that don't have
loading docks that are used to lift pallets to the level of a tractor
trailer. There is sort of a sizzers mechanism from underneath. The one I've
seen at a local post office looks like it could be easily used for lifting
a concert grand to a stage level. The down side to this is that the cost is
fairly high, it's a fairly heavy piece of equipment. The positives are that
once installed it would be fairly easy to lift the piano to the stage
level.

Another solution would be less costly and a little more complicated to set
up. A platform could be made that the piano could be rolled up onto. Two
pieces of 3/4" plywood with some some 2X4's glued and screwed in between.
The platform would have openings on either end to receive the forks of a
Genie Lift (made by Genie Industries 800-429-80890) and blocks underneath
to allow the front wheels of the lift to roll under the platform. The Genie
lift is a telescoping lift that can lift 650 lbs. Cranking both of the
lifts on either side would raise the platform to the elevation of the stage
where the piano could then be rolled onto. The difficult part is that the
width of the piano prevents using just one of the lifts.

We regulalry move concert grands onto stages at schools. We knock them down
on their sides and use a specialized grand board with locking castors so we
don't need to then tip the grand up to get the dolly under. It does seem
somehat of a waste of labor.

Glenn Grafton
Grafton Piano & Organ Co.
Souderton PA
1(800)272-5980