Moving a piano cross country

So my wife's aunt is selling her house in North Carolina. She has an upright piano that belonged to her late brother, my wife's Dad.

Trying to figure out how best to get the piano to San Diego without breaking the bank or the piano.

Anybody hired movers for a single item such as this and have any tips or referrals?

I know the choices are professional Piano specific movers, professional general movers, peer to peer movers like Uship, flying there and renting a truck to bring it back myself, or jumping in the Tundra and going for a 5K mile road trip. (I do have that nifty new 10.1" Kenwood head unit and Netflix.)

I've never driven cross country and not sure I want to start now unless it's at a very leisurely vacation pace.

 

Ask around at some music and instrument shops. I do know you will need to get it tuned after it is in it's new home if you want it to sound right. I have had to dispose of two of them from rental property with a reciprocating saw and that's a job!

 

Hire specific movers, ooorrrrrr get a nice enclosed trailer and hire a piano guy there while you are loading it. All this is based on you wanting it to be in perfect shape when you get it to where it has a new home. Best of luck to you. Be safe and have a nice trip???

 

Don’t use a pick up truck…

Back story - many moons ago, back when you were moving to a new home and instead of hiring movers, you got a bunch of beer and called a favor from every buddy that had a pick up truck. Friend, who should go un-named, Ronnie, had 4 or 5 of us with trucks help him move. He wasn’t moving far, maybe a few miles.
Ronnie had an upright piano that played the scroll thingy. It was old. The piano got loaded, along with all of us, long ways in the right side of one of the trucks. Leaving the old home for the new, had a left turn at the end of the road. I’m behind the truck with the piano. That truck turns left and the piano flips out of the side of the truck. It played one last chord as it smashed in to pieces. Millions of pieces.
I, and the truck behind me pull over, Ronnie, who was first in line and the truck behind him kept going, as they had no idea. We all get out to check on the piano and after a few seconds of horror and being kind, empathic buddies, bust out laughing…
We left it where it was and continued on to Ronnie’s new place. Took Ronnie maybe 5 seconds after we pull up to ask where is the piano…

 

If it weren’t for the sentimental value of the piano (which should be heavily explored) I would say sell it in NC. Just doesn’t make sense to send it all the way across the country. will anyone play piano?
Where will it go when it arrives? Do you really, really want it? And believe me, I get the sentimental side of this. But I wouldn’t take a free upright piano if it was 4 hours an away from me, much less across country.

 

Totally agree! I tried offering to deliver two in great shape to schools and churches both and couldn't give them away. I thought surely a school music program would accept, nope!

 

We gave away my grandmothers baby grand to a catholic school; they took it. It was one of the cool ones that played the music by itself. I tell ya, they get a pretty penny for those Billy Joel albums on a floppy disc!

 

I had a piano moved 400 miles by professional movers. My company paid for the move. Had they not, it was going to be sold or offered to new homeowners despite the sentimental value - cause it had no real value. That said, the movers took good care of it but moved it as easy as any other furniture.

 

Check with uShip.
https://www.uship.com/?siteId=1