I want to put our upright piano onto castors or a moveable platform - how can I do it?
I’ve never specifically done it, but several considerations:
-
Find casters. Amazon actually sells them! I’d get ones rated for the heaviest load, no such thing as too heavy-duty. Get ones that lock or the piano will wander away as you use it.
-
Install. The tricky part will be getting a 3-500 lb piano onto it’s back safely, then onto the wheels when you’re done.
-
Adding wheels will change the height of the keyboard and may be ergonomically undesirable. Obviously you’d want a seat that’s adjustable enough to compensate.
Not sure if you’d want cups under the wheels to protect the floor, as you would already sans wheels.
yep - on further reading and research this may not be as hard as first thought…
it seems the piano may have caster mounts built in.
I might just need to get an adjustable height stool…
Most pianos - mine included - already have casters on them. It is still not at all easy to move, though.
It seems to me that a platform would allow for much easier movement. I have seen these on school or church pianos, I assume they are built for that purpose.
I’m curious why you need to move it that often.
mmm
My upright piano (96 years old now) has casters. They’ve never been useful.
When I’ve had to move it, as I did, across country, I get a gang of movers. If it’s moving only a couple of feet away from the wall, such as for painting, I can manage, lifting one side at a time.
But that piano is not going to move from one side of the room to another, on its casters. As you might guess, I don’t think well of casters on a piano.
You need a “piano dolly” like this one:
Institutions like schools and churches often have their pianos permanently mounted on those metal dollies, and they’re practical but not very decorative for one’s home.
What’s your intended purpose? Being able to reposition the piano within the same room with less effort a couple times a year when the Bridge Club comes over and you need more space for chairs? Being able to wheel it out the front door to a U-Haul to tote it twice a week to the Community Choir’s rehearsals in Sylvan Park?
Move from one room to the next once a year or so… move away from wall occassio ally to clean behind.
I never knew pianos had preset holes for castors… i gotta look.
Mines a yamaha… dunno what model
Most of them (the non-grands at least) also have built-in carrying pegs in the back, behind the sounding board. Grab that with one hand, put the other hand beneath the keyboard, someone else on the other side doing likewise, then lift, walk, set down. Pretty easy with a spinet, heavier with a true upright but still do-able.
I suggest a dolly instead of wheels on the legs. These can be purchased with specific dimensions or in adjustable versions. Piano leg configurations differ so you may need something that doesn’t interfere with your seat or access to the pedals.
A 3 legged grand should absolutely go on a dolly, the legs are a notorious weak point on those
I put heavy-duty double-wheeled casters on my upright piano almost 40 years ago and they work just fine. I don’t move it often or far. I got them from a specialty caster store.