I have a client who is looking to replace the original casters on their upright. This is a church hall piano that gets moved around regularly on a carpet floor and they want something that rolls a bit easier than the original casters. My catalogue shows double wheel rubber casters and cast iron casters. Which do you think would work best in situation.
Cheers
John Pengelly
The Tuning Fork

Look for "Twin Piano Dollies." These do not allow the piano as close to the wall as casters, but if they are regularly moving over carpet, they are a better idea. They bolt to the bottom of the piano.

If they need to be close to the wall, there are piano trucks that will work, but they are much more expensive. They also need clearance at the side of the piano.

Agreed. Twin Dollies work great for moving vertical pianos around. Just make sure, the back of the piano can be screwed into as well as the bottom.

I recently went to install a set on an older Schimmel upright only to discover that there was no place available on the back to secure it. All the screw holes in the dolly were higher than the wood! Dumb me hadn't bothered to look ahead of time so, I had to order a different dolly system for this piano.

You do not need to use all the screw holes, and if some of them are in the wrong place, you can drill different ones.

Hi BDB,

True. But, I do like to use them all when I can for better stability.

On this particular piano, the screw holes in the dolly wouldn't even line up with wood. It didn't even have back posts. It only had open holes with no wood there to attach anything too. I didn't feel like fooling around with drilling new holes in a brand new dolly so, I sent it back and got something better for that situation instead.

In fact, it is the first one in the picture from the Affleck website although, we ordered them from Schaff because the price was a lot less..

Go with the double rubber casters. They look nice and make the piano quite movable. I install bunches

The double wheel ones are great but raise the piano up an inch and you have to make a recess for them not to rub.
Unless Steven has slick way of putting them in?

I sometimes have to put the cardboard spacer behind them, but many times not. A razor sharp chisel and a Dremel tool work quite well to increase the clearance. The old cast iron ones are usually around 1 7/8 inches in diameter while the nice rubber ones are 2 inches. I've been happy with the results.