piano moving/lyre

[Allan Gilreath]

Carl,

You'll usually find techs/movers (not dividing them into two groups
there) strongly divided on this issue.  I've seen two collapsed lyres
and quite a few more that had tenons weakened from use of the lyre to
turn the piano so I quite simply won't do it or allow it to be done on
any move with which I'm involved.  Sure, it's good money repairing these
when they're brought in but I cringe at the thought of someone getting
hurt.

The best route is to use the "Horse" developed by Gordon Crail and sold
my Jansen (I think).  It's a professional piece of equipment and does
the job it's designed to do while protecting the movers and the
customer's investment.  It's a frame that fits under the front of the
piano and allows one person to roll the piano over onto a skid with no
straining.  Two people can easily, and safely, turn even the heaviest 9'
piano.

If I don't have one of those available, I remove the lyre and set a
metal stand (we made one that's adjustable in height) under the bass end
of the keybed then remove the bass leg.  The bass corner is lifted
slightly, the second person removes the stand and then the bass corner
is lowered to the skid.  I haven't tried the support running from the
bottom of the lyre to the treble leg but I still prefer the Horse
because of the leverage afforded even on small pianos.

My feeling is that if we're going to do this work, we should do it
safely, efficiently and professionally.  Life is just too precious to
take those kinds of risks.

Allan
Allan L. Gilreath, RPT

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On
Behalf Of Carl Meyer
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 12:45 PM
To: files
Subject: piano moving/lyre

I think that the lyres on most pianos are strong enough for tilting the
piano.  Most of the movers I've dealt with  use them.  I would think 
that
you would want to examine the lyre so that it is solid and attached 
well.
Large and heavy pianos might be an exception.

I've moved TOO many pianos.  I now (if I can't get out of it) lift the 
bass
end and tuck a 3 inch thick piece of expanded polyethylene under the 
lyre.
This lifts the bass up enough to remove the bass leg.  Now I position 
the
skid on the dolly properly so that the bass edge tips on the center of 
the
skid.  The dolly will tip so that the left side of the piano will be 
flat on
the skid until the piano is raised upright.  The trick is to position 
the
dolly so that the piano will balance.  Now the piano can be centered and
strapped down.

An idea I got from Lowell Wacker (who moves pianos, any size, by 
himself is
to brace the lyre to the treble leg.  I made something for this out of
threaded rod and plumbing parts.  Haven't used it much but I think it 
would
be some insurance against putting too much side thrust on the lyre.

Anybody seen or heard of a lyre collapse?

Picture of the contraption is attached.

Carl Meyer Ptg assoc
Santa Clara, Ca.

Photo at:

https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/files/attachments/4e/48/2e/c7/lyreprop.jpg

Alternate:

http://tinyurl.com/t2h4

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