An Instrument That Forgives No Slip Belongs With Movers Who Specialize
Consider the thing itself. Underneath that mirror-bright shell hides a cast-iron harp heavy enough to tip the scale toward a quarter-ton, clad in lacquer that dents from the gentlest knock and keeps the dent forever. Pass it to ordinary movers wrestling the bulk past a snug co-op turn and you have all but ensured a lasting gouge. Identical logic governs a safe full of guns: a half-ton of armored steel poised to crack hardwood underfoot or pin a hand without warning. Both, therefore, get routed to a compact crew that lives in this work and declines most everything else. The drill stays constant: each piece rides a board cut to its own measurements, ratchet straps draw it snug, then quilted layers build up around it. Since none but Marley’s people lay a finger on the load, no fill-in is ever swinging all that bulk blindly around a stair rail.
Equipment We Haul In, and Its Purpose
- A board shaped to the piece, dolly on four wheels, ratchet straps, with quilted layers heaped around the casework
- On grands, the pedal lyre comes off together with both legs for separate cushioning while the body rides tilted onto one edge
- Crews who shrug off the corkscrew stairwells and tight bends typical of aged Manhattan and Brooklyn houses
- Shielding across every casing, rail, wall face and stair step the whole way along the route
- Bound so securely the casework will not shift one bit across the full run
The Shape of the Morning
To start, the lead reads the route, lays cover along the floor, and curtains the rails plus the wall faces ahead of any weight tipping over. Standing tall and belted against the dolly is how an upright travels. For grands, the pedal hardware comes off beside both legs to be cushioned, the casework comes to rest on a padded board, then leaves tilted on edge and leading with its frame. Any loaded safe is first cleared of contents, then eased onto thick steel plating that keeps the slab free of any scratch. If winter has sheeted a stoop in ice, the treads and the loading ramp get salt and grit before so much as one lift, because a fall under all that bulk is the very catastrophe this whole regimen aims to forestall. Inside a doorman high-rise that means a held freight-elevator window plus a drawn-out trek across the lobby; in a brownstone whose stair cannot swallow a grand, a hoist steps in. Walk-up addresses get a slow descent, one step then the next, the casework never out of grip.
Where Our Responsibility Stops
Delivering it unmarked is ours to own; booking the tuning is yours, and a fortnight or so later works best, once the instrument has grown accustomed to fresh surroundings. A technician owns the casters along with any mechanical repair. As for a gun safe, fixing it back into slab or wall is the safe tech’s province, never the crew’s. Notice a wobbling leg, or lacquer that already bears a hairline crack, before our arrival? Flag it at booking and the crew plots around it. Backing every piano and safe is a written damage guarantee.
The Figures
Reckon on something close to $400 to $650 on an upright or console, while a baby grand sits at $750 to $1,200, each range edging higher once a flight of steps or a long lobby trek enters the math; a loaded gun safe earns its quote once its heft has been gauged against the path ahead. Marcus settles the firm price after piece and route get examined one beside the other.
Put the specialist crew on your piano or gun-safe job by phoning (888) 711-4778.
