[pianotech] Weight question

[Terry Farrell]

Or, even easier would be to cut three blocks of wood the same height  
as your bathroom scale. Put two legs up on a block and the third leg  
on the scale (that keeps the piano level and a consistent amount of  
weight on each leg). Measure weight on that leg. Replace scale with  
third block and move scale to second leg. Repeat.

I think most bathroom scales go up to 300 lbs. (just checked mine and  
it does), unfortunatley, I am well aware that most scale to go over  
200 lbs...... ;-(   So this method would work on a small grand. With a  
7-footer, maybe the front treble would be pushing the limits of the  
scale, and likely a 9-footer would max it out on the treble leg and  
maybe the rear.

'Course you could always spread the weight out on two bathroom scales  
of the same height by placing them next to one another and laying a  
board across them and placing the leg right in the middle......

Terry Farrell

On Sep 9, 2010, at 3:30 AM, Rob McCall wrote:

> You could always weigh the piano the way that they weigh small  
> airplanes.  Put a scale under each leg (3 total, all at the same  
> time) and you can see the ratio of the weights for any piano.  Of  
> course, don't use your bathroom scale unless you want 3 broken  
> ones...  :-)  But then again,  who has 3 bathroom scales? :-)
>
> You could also figure exactly where the center of gravity is, too,  
> with some simple math!
>
> Regards,
>
> Rob McCall
>
> McCall Piano Service, LLC
> www.mccallpiano.com
> Murrieta, CA
> 951-698-1875
>
> On Sep 08, 2010, at 15:04 , Richard Ucci wrote:
>
>> Putting new casters on.
>>
>> Rick Ucci/ Ucci Piano
>> www.uccipiano.com
>>
>>
>> On Sep 8, 2010, at 11:38 AM, "Roger Gable" <roger at gablepiano.com>  
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Having designed my grand piano tilter for the last year to  
>>> determine weight distribution of grand pianos, I can tell you that  
>>> the weight distribution depends on the size of the piano. 9'  
>>> pianos have slightly more weight distribution on the tail, but  
>>> smaller pianos (around  6') have about 2/3 distributed on the 2  
>>> front legs with the bass leg taking approximately 55% of the 2  
>>> front legs. A 750lb. piano is commensurate to a 7' piano which  
>>> would have approximately equal weight distribution on all 3 legs.  
>>> Of course this varies with the manufacturer.
>>> Roger Gable
>>> P.S. Why did you need to know this?
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