Have you ever wondered why a piano board is needed? Well, you've come to the right place. This post will show you why a piano board is needed and why you should not attempt to move a baby grand/grand piano without one!
Luna's Piano Moving and Storage builds its own boards? Why? We make them stronger and for daily use. Think about it this way... You can buy power tools at harbor freight, but you won't find Dewalt power tools there. Some are good enough to be used a few times and some are built to last. Our boards are made with our customers in mind.
These piano boards are not only heavy duty, they are also make to gently handle pianos. There is a foam layer under the carpeting material. When a piano is transported, the more shock resistant the equipment is, the less tuning a piano will need. In addition to our carpet + foam padding, we use piano dollies. Piano dollies play an important role in assisting with shock absorption. See the blue dolly below? That dolly now only has soft polyurethane wheels, but has 3 rubber capped.
This corner is one of the reasons why you will need a piano board. This is the side of the piano what is lowered. Once lowered, the lid (shown above) must never take any weight/stress. It will damage the entire side that is touching the ground and the hinges that are holding the piano lid will be bend and screws will be pulled. The screws that hold the lid are small and only strong enough to hold a lids weight (about 40lbs). It is not meant to hold the pianos entire weight of 400-1200lbs (depending on the length of the piano) so make sure that your mover arrives with a piano board or, if you are moving the piano yourself.
NOTE: We do not recommend that you move a grand/baby grand piano unless you have prior experience and the right helpers.
When moving and transporting pianos, we use our shock absorbent dollies. However, when storing pianos at our facility, we do not need rubber top dollies since our facility's floor is only smooth concrete.