Service 05
Piano & specialty item moving
Uprights, grands, safes, slate pool tables, aquariums, and gallery art. Specialty crew, specialty gear, extra insurance.
What’s included
Pianos
An upright weighs 300 to 900 pounds and a concert grand can pass 1,300. The weight is not the hard part — the hard part is that the load is unbalanced, the legs and pedal lyre are structurally weak, and the finish marks if you look at it wrong.
Grands come off their legs and onto a padded piano board on their side, then get strapped, wrapped, and dollied. Uprights travel upright on a four-wheel dolly with the keyboard lid secured. Either way, plan on re-tuning a few weeks after delivery once the instrument has settled into the new humidity — we will refer you to a tuner we trust.
Safes, pool tables, and marble
Gun safes over 600 pounds need stair climbers and, above roughly 1,000 pounds, a structural check on whether the floor will take the point load at the destination. We will tell you if we think it will not.
Slate pool tables are disassembled — rails, felt, and slate come off separately, and the slate is crated. Anyone who offers to move a slate table intact is going to crack it. Marble and stone tops travel vertically in custom crates, never flat.
Art, antiques, and aquariums
Gallery art and mirrors over about 40 inches get custom wood crates built to size. Antiques with fragile joinery get blanket-wrapped and crated rather than shrink-wrapped, because shrink wrap traps moisture against old finishes.
Aquariums have to be fully drained and the livestock rehomed before move day — we will move the tank and stand, but nothing can travel with water or fish in it.
Questions
About piano & specialty.
Anything not covered here, ask on the phone — a real dispatcher picks up.
(718) 757-5177Yes, with a stair-climbing dolly and enough crew for the weight. Tell us the number of flights, whether there is a turn or a landing, and the width at the narrowest point when you book, so we bring the right gear and the right headcount.
Almost certainly, though usually because of the change in humidity rather than the move itself. Wait two to four weeks for the instrument to acclimate, then have it tuned.
High-value items should be declared in writing before the move. Ask us about full-value protection with a declared item — the standard per-pound valuation is nowhere near the value of a grand piano or an original work.
Other services
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