[pianotech] was not for the feint

[Gene Nelson]

Picture of hired help.
Job complete with no mishaps.
Thanks everyone for your time and thoughts.
Gene Nelson
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: tnrwim at aol.com 
  To: pianotech at ptg.org 
  Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 7:00 PM
  Subject: Re: [pianotech] not for the feint of heart or anything else




    Does not sound like anyone has had experinece.
    Thanks again,
    Gene

  Gene

  The closet experience I have was back at Alabama.  The choir room has a D. The floor was being stripped and re-polished, so the cleaning crew rolled the piano out the double doors, over a door jam. When they tried to roll the piano back in, the left front leg snapped off, and the piano wound up jammed in the doorway, held up by the lyre. There was no way to move the piano, other than to physically lift the thing up. So I called the university maintenance department and asked for a dozen strong men. Under my direct supervision, they lifted the piano up and took it into the choir room, and tipped it on a side, so that I could removed the rest of the legs and the lid. There was no way to get any equipment in there to help with the lifting, and none of these guys had ever touched a piano before in their life, but were able to do the heavy lifting, under my supervision. No one got hurt, and the job was done in less than 5 minutes. Yes, I understand that the men were under the universities liability plan, but usually men hired by a labor pool are also under some sort of plan.

  Just for curiosity, could you explain a little more what happened, how you picked the piano up, and what kind of damage there was. 

  Wim   





  -----Original Message-----
  From: Gene Nelson <nelsong at intune88.com>
  To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org>
  Sent: Mon, Jun 21, 2010 3:07 pm
  Subject: Re: [pianotech] not for the feint of heart or anything else


  Thanks for all the warnings - we had factored in these things from the begining and that is not really the kind of help I was looking for. 
  Does not sound like anyone has had experinece.
  Thanks again,
  Gene

  From: Tom Driscoll 
    To: pianotech at ptg.org 
    Sent: Monday, June 21, 2010 5:19 PM
    Subject: Re: [pianotech] not for the feint of heart or anything else



      Subject: Re: [pianotech] not for the feint of heart or anything else


      When I suggested a full time, fully insured professional PIANO mover, I meant just that – someone who does nothing but move pianos all day long, every day.  The company I use here in New Hampshire does about  2,000 moves a year.  That includes concert grands as well as pianos of any size.  They do difficult stair moves of some fairly large grands when needed, and basically have had just about every curve ball thrown at them over the years.  You may not have the benefit of movers of that caliber in your area, and yes, there are many piano movers who can only be trusted to a certain level of difficulty.  

      If you know of such competent piano movers in your area,  I would be hard pressed to believe that you would have the same level of skills as them (no disrespect to you at all intended – you wouldn’t expect your piano mover to be as good a tuner as you, would you?)   But that’s your call.  The sticking point for me would still be the exposure to liability associated with your assistants should something go wrong.  Would you be enlisting the assistance of others who have never moved a piano before?  I certainly hope not, as that would be unwise.   I wouldn’t expect the judge in the personal injury lawsuit  to show a lot of sympathy.

      Most of the time we get away with doing something careless or unsafe.  That’s true for BP too, except for that one big WHOOPS we hear about every day.  

      Will

      Gene ,
       Ditto again. Let me be more clear.   ARE YOU CRAZY ?   I'm kidding --somewhat --- but anyone who entrusts this kind of  job to labor pool help ,or even stout friends is asking for trouble. 
      I don't mean to be harsh here and maybe you will plow ahead anyway and maybe it will all turn out OK ,  but I'll follow Wills last post again with a suggestion that you put this in the hands of an insured -bonded piano mover.
            I  say this with love in my heart, 
       Tom D.
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