Putting a Steinway D on a Riser

[Footer]

We have a show next month that wants to put our Steinway D on a riser. Getting a deck to support a thousand pounds is not the issue... getting it onto the riser is.

I'm not really crazy about moving our piano by flipping it onto its side. Does anyone make a scissor lift that goes low enough to do this? Anyone have any ideas short of a few motors and spansets? I think they want to go 2' into the air.

 

[Chris15]

Forklift?

 

[LavaASU]

Forklift?

Don't think theres anywhere that you can safely lift it with a fork unfortunately....

Wide ramp up to the platform?

 

[Chris15]

With long enough slippers you could fairly easily and safely I would think...

 

[techieman33]

Can you find a riser with wheels? If you can and have a pit lift I would build the riser on the pit, lower it so the riser is at stage level and roll the piano on. Then just roll the riser in place and lock it down.

 

[HiThere]

get as many guys as you can fit around it and lift
don't lift on the keys side
keys first onto the platform

 

[JohnD]

Years ago I worked as a tech at a university concert hall. The original technique for moving the Steinway was to put a call in to "truck service" from the physical plant division and have them send over everybody. That would provide about 20 guys who would surround the piano and they would llift and crab walk the piano and move it. Then they hired a new concert hall manager who was a retired music store owner. After that two of us would move the piano. In my opinion tilting it onto its side was the best way to move a piano. We would put the quilted cover on the piano and strap it on with ratchet straps and we had a piano cradle which was two 2 x 12's with 2 x 4 spacers and a lip at the keyboard end and it was carpet padded on top. We would remove the pedals and then remove the leg at the bass end of the keyboard and lower the keyboard to the cradle then gently lower the bass side of the piano onto the cradle, tilt it into a vertical position and strap it onto the cradle with a couple more ratchet straps and remove the other two legs. Then we could lift up the rounded end and slide a furniture dolly underneath and lower it down onto the wheels of the dolly. Very easy and very gentle on the piano. If we had to deal with stairs or steps on a portable stage we would remove the furniture dolly and simply slide the cradle up or down the steps.

 

[AudJ]

Seen this done a lot. For the sake of the piano, the best bet is probably move on the side, which is designed to support the weight. The bottom is not. My Baldwin is about 1,100lbs, and I would bet a "D" is a little heavier.

I would drop it on the side, or get 2 moving ramps.

If I had to do this another way (which I admit is impractical) I would build a riser on casters/ brakes and roll it to the orchestra lift, lower to the height of the stage, roll the piano onto it, and raise the pit to push the whole assembly where you want it. It would be cheaper to hire a piano mover.

 

[llburg]

In high school, we just borrowed the football team for 5 minutes.

 

[SteveB]

Put 2 furniture dollys on the platform and have 2 people to foot them. Flip the piano onto the dollys on it's long sde, which has 2 runners designed to handle the weight and this is in any event the method piano movers use. Then roll to position and flip back upright.

This is how we do it for our 24" high Wenger risers. If you need to go higher you may need to span set it to a lineset and raise it that way.

 

[SoundGuySPI]

I'm not really crazy about moving our piano by flipping it onto its side

That is how we have been moving pianos for road shows. In fact we had Steinway deliver a brand new Steinway D for an event just the other day and thats exactly how they moved it, on its side up to our temp stage in the plaza and then tuned it. The side is reenforced for that reason. also its the only way to move it if you have to go through any doors..

 

[TDN]

You will have to have it tuned after flipping it onto it's side. I've moved many pianos by putting them on their sides, and we've always just arranged for them to be tuned again after the move. You can do the move quite gently, but plan on having it tuned anyway. (Plus, the people at the event are generally impressed when you can assure them you just had it tuned)

 

[chausman]

It's pretty much going to need to be tuned regardless of where it gets moved to.

 

[JohnD]

As I recall, every rider I have seen that called for a Steinway also called for an on site piano tuner, sometimes they were even required to stay on site until nearly showtime.
Now, as for the OP, perhaps if you had four genie lifts available you could use them in pairs with a long timber spanning each pair and lift it in place where it was going and slide the platform under it. But then again, considering the footprint of the genies and the footprint of the platform those would be mighty long timbers.

 

[Footer]

We tune no matter what, every show, every time. The piano lives on a dolly, so flipping it involves removing the dolly. The pit method is probably what we are going to go with, I just wanted to avoid a 2 hour/4 man pit flip on each side of this show if I could. We also have a curved on the US side of our pit so we will have to get some decent sized plate to act as a filler. I'm hoping they decide to use our Steinway A instead on this one!

 

[AudJ]

You are lucky to have a Steinway A and D in-house. Most of us need a rental.

 

[carproelsofly]

There is an annual event in the hall across the street from me that has 10 grand pianos, maybe six or seven of which end up on platforms of various heights.

They are dead-lifted by a large group of stagehands, legs on and wheels down.

Sounds like the rolling onto the platform on the lift is a good option, but it can be done safely by hand, as long as everyone works together!

http://prp.fm/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ten_grand_2008.jpg

 

[Jay Ashworth]

The Steinway artist contract provides that Steinway will supply a model D for performances, but you are on your own for tuning it, if I remember correctly.

Sent from my SPH-L720