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I currently have a grand piano on a stage and was wanting to move it 2 (or so) meters back to make more room on the stage for an upcoming concert where it will not be used. I was wondering if I will need to re-tune it when we move it back? It has been tuned annually and last tune was only a couple of months ago

Christiaan Pietropoli
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    You might want to make a quick recording of someone playing it before moving, and again after. That way if the people who left it in your way complain, you can prove that it sounded that bad before yiu touched it. – JDługosz Sep 05 '16 at 20:29
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    In the US, your moving it over 6 feet, so if you round that up, it's 8 feet. So you got 8 feet, just make sure they are connected to four burly guys. And if we went to the metric system back in the 70's here as we should have, that joke would fall completely flat. Hopefully this doesn't happen to the piano. –  Sep 06 '16 at 02:48
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    2 millimeters or 20 meters - all the same. Either you have a proper moving system (such as a standard three-point roller fitting under the legs) or you don't :-) – Carl Witthoft Sep 06 '16 at 11:17

5 Answers5

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If the stage is smooth and the castors on the piano legs are in reasonable condition, you don't have anything to worry about.

Check which direction the castors are pointing, and start moving the piano in that direction, even if you really want to go at right-angles. The castors will pivot easier when the piano is actually moving (slowly).

I can think of one grand piano that was regularly moved a few meters twice a day, five days a week - and that never "sent it out of tune".

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Grand pianos often have rolls underneath anyway. They are not usually screwed to the floor. They are expected to be moved around in concert venues a lot more than standup pianos are. So the frame should be solid enough to support moving. Put at least one suitably strong person to each corner and carry rather than drag it. You might want to lift each leg on a suitable rollboard, one at a time, and then roll it instead of carrying. That way, you can work on one corner at a time.

user33091
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    No, no and no. The piano's wheels are made to withstand the movement, so you don't need extra wheels. What you need is to minimize vibrations; putting your piano on the extra wheels means dropping it off them later on, which detunes your piano. So, unless the floor is really bad (tiling, bad parquet, ...), you don't want to manipulate the piano onto any extra wheels. – yo' Sep 05 '16 at 20:21
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    @yo' I think that part is meant for the off chance that the piano doesn't have its own wheels. – Random832 Sep 06 '16 at 00:50
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Not necessarily. Maybe. Move it and see if it goes out of tune. If it's only tuned once a year, your standards aren't very demanding.

Laurence
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    Not helpful, or accurage – Carl Witthoft Sep 06 '16 at 11:17
  • About as accurage as your comment! Sure it's helpful. I move pianos all the time. Sometimes the tuning holds, sometimes it doesn't. A piano recital needs a higher standard of tuning than playing the hymns for school assembly. Know your piano, know your tuning needs. – Laurence Sep 07 '16 at 10:59
  • Comments don't have to be as high quality as answers, for obvious reasons. – Carl Witthoft Sep 07 '16 at 11:33
  • I stand by my answer. Some pianos go out of tune if you so much as breathe heavily at them, some don't. And there are varying requirements of tuning perfection. – Laurence Sep 07 '16 at 16:03
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Shouldn't be a problem, find four burly guys, and lift it an inch off the floor, and move it. As long as it doesn't end up by a radiator, a draughty door or direct sunlight, the tuning will be stable.

Tim
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    And when you drop it from the inch of height, it probably gets quite detuned. Been there done that... – yo' Sep 05 '16 at 22:16
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    And you would need a lot more than four burly guys. This is terrible advice. Grand pianos are designed to be wheeled on and off stage. Between the overture and the piano concerto, for example. No time to tune it then, and no burly guys used either. – user207421 Sep 06 '16 at 00:01
  • @EJP - why would it need to be moved? Leave it where it is, and tune it during the interval. – Tim Sep 06 '16 at 07:10
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    @yo - why would you drop it an inch - that wouldn't be good. – Tim Sep 06 '16 at 07:14
  • @Tim I haven't ever managed not to drop it even so slightly when moving it this way, and even a small drop makes the piano detuned. – yo' Sep 06 '16 at 07:16
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    @Tim Because at every piano concerto concert I have ever attended in fifty years, it goes overture/concerto/interval/symphony. – user207421 Sep 06 '16 at 10:18
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    @Tim Are you joking? Do you have any idea how long it takes to tune a piano? Even if you don't employ Mr. Knockety? – Carl Witthoft Sep 06 '16 at 11:18
  • @CarlWitthoft - mine take a couple of hours each. But they never get dropped. Joking about which bit? – Tim Sep 06 '16 at 11:50
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If a wooden stage, put some pieces of old carpet, rubber facing up, under the stands, and you can just by yourself move it. Gently, don't start waltzing.

bjd
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