Piano Storage - The Effects of Moving and Storing a Piano

The Effects of
Moving and Storage

Tuning
A piano is hoisted out of a third-story window, trucked across the province, and later that day hoisted into a fifth-floor apartment. After the movers leave, the pianist sits down to play and is surprised to find the piano in very good tune. Two weeks later, the piano sounds terrible.

This common scenario is due to the fact that it is not generally the physical moving of the piano that puts it out of tune- it is the change in humidity from one location to another, and this change takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to show its effect.

For this reason, you should wait at least 2 weeks after moving before having the piano tuned. Only with some of the cheaper and smaller apartment size pianos will the actual physical moving affect the tuning directly.

Pedals
Grand piano pedals are frequently out of kilter after a move. Shims of leather or cardboard used to take up slack in the trapwork often fall out when the lyre is removed. Also, less careful movers sometimes mix up the order of the pedal rods that rise from the back of the pedals. These rods are not always equal in length and so may not be interchangeable. Pedal dowels in verticals also sometimes fall out of place. It is a fairly simple matter for your piano technician to correct.

Special note: If your grand piano has lyre braces (which it should), be sure the movers remember to put them back on. Movers often forget and leave them in the truck, never to be seen again.

Other Effects
The effects of moving, except those mentioned above, are very unpredictable, especially if there is a large difference in humidity between the old and new locations.

Warning: A piano that has been in a damp or unheated place for many years should never be moved to a dry or well-heated location. Such pianos are known to self-destruct in a short time.

One additional item to check on a grand piano before moving:
Because a grand is placed on its side to be moved, a narrow wooden rail called a key stop rail is mounted on top of the keys, behind the fallboard, to prevent the keys from falling off the key frame during moving. If the key stop rail is missing or not securely installed, as sometimes happens, the keys will be in terrible disarray and completely unplayable after moving. A technician can fix this, but it may take awhile to remove the action from the piano. If you know you're going to be moving, have your technician check the key stop rail before
you move.

This excerpt was taken from The Piano Book, by Larry Fine:
The definitive source book on buying & owning a new or used piano
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