As one piano-owner to another, I’m asking you sincerely: Please don’t try to move your own piano. In nearly all cases, it simply leads to damage to the instrument.
A piano is an incredibly complex and delicate piece of machinery, with hundreds of individual parts, all necessary for the piano to be in working order. One cannot simply load a piano onto the back of a truck and haul it around. Doing so practically guarantees it will get broken.
And while it’s possible to repair most piano damage, it’s rare for a damaged piano to ever be 100% restored back to factory spec. Just as with a person, it will carry those scars for life.
Four Reasons Moving Your Own Piano Is A Bad Idea
1 – Damage to yourself and friends.
Before even talking about the piano, think about yourself. Depending on the size, a piano can range between at least 500-1500 pounds. It usually requires several people just to lift it off the floor, much less carry it anywhere.
That’s the sort of weight where any mistake on the part of the human movers could do great damage to themselves – hernias, broken feet, or worse. Why take the risk?
2 – Specialized equipment is often needed.
How do you get a grand piano down from a second-floor or higher building? The solution often involves serious machinery, whenever possible. The most common way of getting them out takes them through a balcony and into the arms of heavy-lifting equipment which moves it to ground level.
Roughly speaking, there is no safe method to take a half-ton piano down stairs manually, although 
sometimes there’s no choice.
3 – Prepping it for moving requires a lot of work.
The more padding that can be placed on and in a piano being moved, the better. The mere vibrations and bumps in a road can do damage to the piano’s delicate internals. You need experts who understand how pianos get damaged on the road, so they can prep it for the move.
Far too many people moving their own piano protect the outside, but fail to protect the internals. As with our bodies, it’s the internal damage that does the most harm.
4 – You’ll need it tuned anyway.
Here’s the other bad news: You’ll still have to call in expert help no matter what. Moving a piano guarantees it will need tuning when it arrives. There’s no way around this. But if you have experts overseeing the entire move, it absolutely minimizes the harm done and ensures your piano is back to normal as soon as possible.
So, give the experts a call if you need to move a piano. It’s just not worth the risk.