...carry a 45" acoustic piano down a flight of basement stairs?

There's a few tricky turns as well. What's the going rate for something like this?

You'll have to ask for there rates, but they calculate it by the number of stairs and turns involved. I think it's total robbery but it could cost up to $150 to $200 extra just to go up 10 flights of stairs that contains one turn.

I had a rental Roland f-110 delivered and had to find out the hard way. The delivery guys literally would have bought the piano back to store, still charged me the delivery fee than bring it up a couple of steps up a stair until I paid them every cent. I would've paid every cent if it was a grand piano but for a small digital? This was in Los Angeles.

Fast forward 8 months where I moved to Asia for work. Had a Roland hp307 delivered up 30 steps of stairs and 3 turns, then fully assembled for no extra charge what so ever.

MAN CAVE!

BenPiano - yeah baby! Upon some discussion with the wifey, i was able to justify this due to the fact that I won't have to purchase a Man Cave digital down the road. Now getting it down there is another story.

After reading Rui's testimonial about moving rates, I may just have to call some friends...after all, they say the true test of friendship is if they'll agree to help you move.

Uprights are top-heavy and awkward to maneuver, especially down stairs, and especially through turns. How upset will you be if you damage the piano and/or take a gouge out of the walls? More to the point, how upset will you (and your friends) be if one of y'all gets injured? Minor or serious injury?

I'm Ms. Risk-Averse, so I wouldn't try to do it myself. Think of it not as $$ wasted but doing your part to stimulate the economy and support local businesses.

Now if you want the uber-cheap suggestion,... build a sturdy crate to put the piano on using 2x4's. Use Simpson strong ties on the corners and build it double thick. Lag a large heavy lag bolt on each corner and hook a chain across it.

Then, go buy a cheap Harbour freight 3,000 portable winch for $39.00 and hook it up to the chain.

Actually, hold on, I forgot a step.

You may possibly need to lay down something to protect whatever your stairs are made out of.

You could even lay gown some long 2x4 x whatever you have on its side as a sort of rail/track for the crate to slide down on.

Now put the piano on the crate/craddle. Build a short wall around the bottom.


This method can also work if you put the piano on its side, just build a taller side wall so the piano doesn't flip out while lowering it. That would suck huh?

Your only challenge would be a good winch point.

Should you actually do everything mentioned above then you will probably figure out a way to devise some sort of winch point as well.

Sure it's McGyver-ish but it's a MAN-cave your building right?

I was going to suggest bribing some buddies with free pizza and beer afterward (who couldn't resist?), but then considered the weight of an upright, the force of gravity and Murphey's Law, so I decided against making such a recommendation.

But hey, my vote is still for the Cristofori in the Man Cave! (in the safest was possible)

Probably going to be expensive, though I don't know how much. Normally I'm all for the "call the friends/family" approach for moving furniture, and I am always happy to move furniture for a neighbor in need free of charge, but... an acoustic piano is a beast, they're so much heavier and harder to carry than they look. I would say go for it anyways, except that there are stairs, and that's just an accident waiting to happen. It's probably best to just splurge and hire someone to move it, at least this way you can hold them liable if something gets damaged, and it won't be you or your friends/family in the hospital if someone slips or loses their grip.

Even my short little spinet was hard for me and another guy to move and we did it over level ground, taking breaks every few feet, they are deceptively heavy, and bulky.

You do mean ten steps, not ten flights, correct? (Ten flights means ten storeys.)

I really think it's best to hire professionals to move an instrument. They should have insurance in case there is a loss, so be sure to ask for a bond. I know just how hard it is to move a piano, and I'm glad that we were only moving pieces of junk when we did it. We only had one or two steps to contend with as well, and that was plenty.

I helped a friend move a acoustic upright 3-4 years ago. There were 8 of us and the move only involved going up 6 steps. Everyone of us vowed never to do it again. If you have the proper equipment I can imagine the experience only being unpleasant but if you try to muscle through the whole thing is painful.

Keep in mind if anyone gets hurt while moving it your insurance will likely be responsible which will end up costing far more than a moving company.

I hired professional keyboard movers - that's ALL they do - 2 years ago to move my upright in. There were a few stairs where it came from (maybe 5?), none on this end, but a REALLY tight hallway turn inside my apartment. It cost $150 CDN, which was PEANUTS, & they brought it in like it was a box of groceries. Worth every cent for it to be worry-free, & to know they weren't likely to do any damage whatsoever to something I valued so much.

Keep in mind, I am NOT speaking "hypothetically"! My 1,200 lb 7 foot grand is moved up and down nearly 20 steps twice a year.

We do everything I had mentioned other than use a winch (which may be coming in the future). The entire move up and down the stairs takes LESS than 1 minute. That's right, 1 minute! This is because the piano is put on a custom made craddle and literally carried by hand like a casket.

There is one huge catch however. that is we don't have to make a turn; especially a confined tight one. that's what is going to get you.

I'd still look into using a winch if you can. Nothing will be safer and give you as much control with the push of a button.

You know I am in the beginning stages of thinking about maybe sorta looking at an acoustic piano for my house and I can't imagine how I would get it into the main room upstairs. I have a normal width staircase but it makes a 180 deg turn half way up (about 8 steps for each section) that is very difficult to negotiate when moving big things. My new refrigerator got damaged on the move up. A tree blocks a crane type move into the room via the outside balcony. I suppose I need to get a mover in to asses the issues. If I do get started on my search I'm hoping to buy a grand piano in the 5 1/2 to 6ish ft range so not a small item at all.