Pianos are made of wood, glue, and felt. Wood expands and contracts with humidity and temperature. Glue softens above 100°F. Felt (the hammer covers and damper rings) compresses with heat and pressure. A Phoenix summer truck is the worst environment imaginable for a piano.
Why most piano moves go wrong
The wrong moving company will load your piano onto the truck at 8am, drive across town for an hour with the piano sitting in 130°F box temperatures, unload at 11am, set it on a sun-warm tile floor, and call it done. Two weeks later you tune it and the technician tells you the soundboard cracked. The mover blames “wood movement”; you have no recourse because there’s no documented damage at delivery.
What we do for Phoenix piano moves
- Truck parked in shade at origin. Always. We’ll add carry distance to keep the truck box temperature down. Even 15° matters.
- Piano loads first, unloads first. Minimum time in the truck box. For local moves we time the route around getting the piano off-truck within 90 minutes max.
- Piano rides on the cool side of the truck. Side facing away from afternoon sun. We coordinate with the GPS to know which way we’re driving.
- Insulated blankets for long-distance summer. Standard moving blankets are 65 oz. We use 90 oz insulated quilts for pianos in summer cross-country runs. Adds about $100 in blanket cost we don’t pass on.
- 4-man crew minimum for any grand. Two-person piano lifts are how dropped pianos happen. We don’t do them.
- Floor protection at destination. Tile in Phoenix homes can be 90°F+ from sun through a south-facing window. We pad the floor before setting the piano down so the legs don’t shock-cool against hot tile.
What you should do BEFORE we arrive
- Don’t tune in the 4 weeks before the move. The piano will be detuned by the move regardless. Pay once after, not twice.
- Take a phone photo of the piano at origin showing all sides + close-ups of any existing scratches/dings. Documentation matters if something goes wrong.
- Tell us at booking if your piano has been moved before. Frequently moved pianos have weakened internal bracing. We add extra strapping.
- Confirm path of travel — door widths, doorway heights, stair landings, ceiling clearance over staircases. Most upright pianos clear a 32″ door; baby grands need 36″ minimum and proper turning radius.
After the move
Wait 2-4 weeks before tuning. The piano needs to acclimate to its new room’s humidity and temperature. Tuning before acclimation = tuning twice. We can recommend Phoenix piano techs we’ve worked with — Greg at Mesa Piano Service has done re-tunes for our customers for years. He charges $185-220 typically.
Pricing snapshot
- Upright piano in metro Phoenix: $425 flat (single floor each end)
- Baby grand under 6 ft: $650 flat
- Full grand 6-7 ft: $850 flat
- Concert grand 7-9 ft: $1,100-1,400 (quoted per job)
- Add $125 per flight of stairs each end
- Long-distance: quoted per job — usually $1,500-3,500 within Southwest
If your piano has been in your family for generations, it deserves the right crew. Don’t let “the cheapest mover” save you $200 and cost you an heirloom.