Moving an Upright

[John Dewey]

When I was farming and doing piano rebuilding part time I frequently had to
unload pianos from my pickup by myself. I had a piece of 3/4" plywood about
24" x 24" with a notch cut in each corner. I would lay this on top of the
piano and run a 2" tie down strap past one corner, under the piano, and back
up past the other corner at the same end and buckle the ends together. Then
do the same thing with a second strap at the other end. I would then take my
loader tractor, fasten a short chain to the bucket and pass it through the 2
loops and back to hook to itself. I could then pick up the piano with the
loader. The plywood acted as a spreader plate and kept the 2 loops from
sliding together and dropping the piano on it's end.

John Dewey
associate member

-----Original Message-----
From: Pengelly Pensione <pengelly@uniserve.com>
To: pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Saturday, June 05, 1999 12:23 PM
Subject: Moving an Upright


>Hi Folks
>I want my husband, John,  to move one of our pianos into the livingroom for
>the kids to use but the logistics are difficult.  We live on a mountain and
>our lot is quite steep.  Because of this our front door enters at the
>basement level of our two floor home.  Once inside there is a fairly narrow
>stairwell with a 90 degree turn in the middle of it to take you to the main
>floor.  No way will the piano negotiate that turn.  On the main floor
though
>there is a large deck with french doors into the livingroom which would
seem
>to be the best way to get the piano into the room.  The question of course
>is how do we get the thing up onto the deck.  We have a friend with a truck
>that has a hook and lifting arm who is willing to try but we need to know
>the best way to rig the piano up so that it is not damaged in the process.
>I often read over John's shoulder and know that you guys will know the
>answer to this!
>In anticipation,
>Helen Pengelly
>
>