SHOULD I MOVE MY OWN PIANO?
That is a question I have answered over and again for many years and for the most part the answer is a resounding no.
Once you realize how many things that can go wrong, most people agree with that friendly advice.
Pianos can weigh up to 1100 pounds, even a small upright can weigh in at 400 to 550.
When you are not used to dealing with that kind of weight even the strongest people find sometimes themselves humbled by the shifting top-heavy momentum of a falling or tipping instrument.
I know of many people you have broken limbs and worse in simple "easy” moves.
It is even harder trying to do things that even professional movers would deem a difficult situation, such as steep stairs, having to lay a piano on its end to turn a corner, and many other situations that can come up.
One small slip can cause a thousand dollars in repair costs instantly.
We have not even touched upon the skills and special equipment (for both you and the piano) needed to safely take down and set up a grand piano.
Is there ever a time you should even consider moving your own piano? Maybe.
If you have the proper equipment, if one person knows how to move heavy unwieldy objects, you have the proper vehicle, and you have good, paid up homeowners, and medical insurance.
Other than that, no.
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Every year, tens of thousands of adults decide that this is finally the year they learn piano. Some were told as children that they had no talent. Some simply never had access to an instrument. Many watched a video online — a performance so beautiful or so unexpectedly moving that the only reasonable response was to find out what it would take to do that themselves.
Walk through any piano showroom today and ask the staff what's bringing new customers through the door. The answer, with surprising frequency, is a name — Yunchan Lim — or a platform — TikTok. The viral explosion of classical piano performance on short-form video is not a marketing campaign dreamed up by record labels or conservatories. It is an organic, viewer-driven phenomenon that is reshaping who listens to classical music, who buys pianos, and what they want to play when they get home.
Piano manufacturing is, by its nature, a materials-intensive craft. A modern grand piano contains roughly 12,000 individual components. It requires carefully selected hardwoods — spruce, maple, beech, walnut — sourced from forests in multiple countries. It uses felt, leather, metal alloys, and chemical finishes. Building one well takes skilled labor spanning months.