Johnno Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 We have a small grand piano on the floor of our school hall. How might it be raised onto the stage, a height of one metre? I expect you will say "Hire a pro to shift it" and we will if we ever need to do so, but how would they do it? "Charlie had a think and he thought we oughtTo take off all the handlesAnd the things wot held the candlesBut it did no goodWell I never thought it would..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roderick Posted August 2, 2008 Share Posted August 2, 2008 Ramp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gherriott Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I did some work in a college venue, and they tried to do just this....result: lots of little bits of piano on the stage that didn't work ever again! (they dropped it). I would suggest as I am sure will most others, hiring in a professional to do it, unless you have a rather large platform lift. I am presuming however that if you had one of those you would have already used it! Just another thing to bear in mind...you will need to retune it without a doubt. So you will need to consider that in your costs of lifting it as well. Good luck with it and let us know how you did it in the end...and if it is done without professionals, some pictures would be amusing! Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 hiring in a professional to do it,The OP EXPLICITLY states that they would; he is interested in the technique. There are options. Several species of sack-truck like contraptions exist for moving grand pianos. I've seen multi wheeled things, and one with powered tank tracks on it. Tip the piano on edge, strap it to the truck and up the steps. Or get some big lads in who have never heard of the manual handling regulations and 1, 2, 3 LIFT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 How small is small? I used to work at a venue with a baby grand which four of us could lift comfortably onto a meter high stage, three could do it at a push. It does require a bit of thought and a reasonable amount of strength and physical fitness but there's no reason it would necessarily be in breach of the manual handling regulations. A standard high-lift pallet truck with a load of empty pallets or similar on to build it up to the height to that of the underside of the piano could also work but obviously care would have to be taken to ensure the lift was up to the job and the piano remained stable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 The pro piano people get a hired in grand up to our stage fairly often. Blankets and a proper piano shoe ratchet strapped on, then up onto the bass string side, up the ramp and then back to horizontal. Call in Piano tuner and away you go. I once moved a grand manually at college, with loads of students and I never want to do it again - far too heavy when you have muscle but no experience. The other thing of course is do you know what your stage is rated at - the point load on each of the castors can be considerable - is the stage strong enough? Also the space they take up probably means it will have to go down again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoLiEn Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Used to work for a pro company, to do it safely and properly you need set of sack wheels, chunky bastards they are, and awesome. a Ramp, A Piano Shoe, blankets, and the promise of a pint afterwards. the legs come off, the top can come off if it is a big bastard but we never took it off. Carrying it upstairs to a first floor venue was not my idea of fun. damn steinways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w/robe Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 It is not the way you should do it but when I was at school (Q Hovis music) we had a higher stage than this and a full size grand that the rugby team used to be co-opted to move regularly. I'm now so glad that nothing ever happened to any of them as no finesse was involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timtheenchanteruk Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 we have a baby grand that was lifted onto the stage once a year (we still have the piano its just been relegated as we have an electric one as well now) it took 6 people to lift it. Strangly we had a pro pianist in a few years ago, and his piano "team" carried his full concert grand up the stairs at our venue (lift too small, no scenery dock)now that was an interesting sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Used to work for a pro company...Are you seriously suggesting you'd flip a baby grand on it's side, remove it's legs, wheel it up a ramp, re attach the legs and flip it upright again just to get it onto a meter high stage?! Surely just getting a really wide (or even two) ramps would be a lot quicker, easier and less likely to result in having to tune it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnno Posted August 7, 2008 Author Share Posted August 7, 2008 I didn't say before but the castors don't work. The caretaker goes ballistic if anyone moves the piano as the floor is polished wood and great big gouges appear. I doubt if it ever will be moved. Music dept have a nice electric one. I bet we get rid of it when our BSFF rebuild gets done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roderick Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Are you seriously suggesting you'd flip a baby grand on it's side, remove it's legs, wheel it up a ramp, re attach the legs and flip it upright again just to get it onto a meter high stage?! Surely just getting a really wide (or even two) ramps would be a lot quicker, easier and less likely to result in having to tune it?It is the only way to do it safely. The legs on a grand piano are not designed to be pushed up a ramp, they would snap before you are halfway.And if you know what you are doing, flipping a grand piano on its' side isn't that hard. And for a short distance, you probably wouldn't take the legs off.You would need to tune it anyway, even if you used a forklift to lift it onto the stage, they are very fragile instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnno Posted August 7, 2008 Author Share Posted August 7, 2008 I just Googled "Moving a baby grand piano" and was asked "Do you mean Having a baby grand piano?". I bet that brings tears to the ladies' eyes :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ike Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 It is the only way to do it safely. The legs on a grand piano are not designed to be pushed up a ramp, they would snap before you are halfway.Hmmm, as someone who's done this a few dozen times I'd beg to differ. I'm sure you must have also seen the trolleys that clamp onto each leg therefore giving you a very sturdy structure? You would need to tune it anyway, even if you used a forklift to lift it onto the stage, they are very fragile instruments.Again not true in my experience. We used to get a piano tuner out to check the baby grand we used to move by hand and the only times she had to do anything was when we put it down a bit hard, she actually commented once that if every 'roadie' was like us she'd be out of a job! I've also moved a fair few full sized grands up and down ramps either wheeling or with a few big lads picking it up and shuffling and again any tuning required has been minimal, certainly a lot less than when I've seen them flipped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chas at Halls Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Ray Cooper (#1 percussionist for Eric Clapton amongst other) played the inside of a grand piano with large mallets whilst jumping up & down on it for 10 minutes during his shows at the Royal Albert Hall. We had a piano tuner in each morning after the shows and he thought we'd dropped the thing out of the roof...... Chas at Hall Stage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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