Crating pianos

Why a piano needs its own crate

A piano is a long, heavy, delicate piece of furniture with a precisely tensioned frame and a wooden soundboard. It does not crush, but it can go out of regulation, crack a leg, scratch through its finish or swell with damp. A general-purpose box does not control any of that.

We draw the crate from the instrument: grand or upright, make and model if you know them, whether the finish is polished ebony or open-pore wood. The padding and the sheathing both follow from those answers.

Some pianos are family heirlooms and some are showroom stock, and the right level of padding differs. A polished ebony case marks at the slightest scuff, a hand-rubbed walnut cabinet takes damp badly and a painted finish chips at the edges. Say what the finish is, and we will choose cotton wrap, felt pads and corner foam accordingly.

Grand pianos: on edge, on a skid board

A grand is laid on its straight side, the way a mover would carry it on a skid board. The legs and the pedal lyre are removed and wrapped separately; the lid is closed and locked, and the music desk is taken off. The case sits on a padded skid with the bass side or the straight side down, whichever the mover's drawing specifies.

In the crate the piano is held by timber blocking and bracing that lands on the rim and the heavy structural points, never on the soundboard or the strings. Cleats on the inside walls keep the case off the sheathing, and foam covers every spot the case meets wood.

• Legs, lyre and music desk removed, padded and labelled
• Lid closed, locked and wrapped; key cover taped
• Straight side down on a padded skid, strapped to the frame
• Wood bracing on the rim only
• Casters removed or blocked

Uprights and spinets

An upright stands on its back in an upright crate, built taller than wide, with its back against the rear wall. It is lag bolted to the skid through its base, with the keyboard lid locked and the front pedals blocked so they cannot bend. Casters come off or are cradled so the piano cannot roll.

The weak points are the corners of the case and the lower leg blocks. Corner foam and a rigid front guard keep the piano from rocking forward, and we leave a gap between the case and the walls for pads.

Damp, heat and tuning

The soundboard moves with humidity. A sealed barrier bag around the padded piano, with desiccant inside, holds the air steady on a long ocean leg. The bag is sealed only when the piano is dry and at ambient temperature, or the moisture is simply trapped inside.

Expect a retune on arrival. Even the best crate cannot freeze the instrument's tuning, and a piano that has crossed climate zones needs time to settle before a technician works on it.

Lifting, handling and markings

Pianos are heavy at one end. We mark the centre of gravity on the crate sides, mark the fork entry on the skid and keep handles off the sheathing so a mover is not tempted to lift by the walls. A tip indicator on the outside shows if the crate has been laid over.

ISO 780 symbols (fragile, this way up, keep dry, no hooks) go on every side. For a bigger instrument, see the guidance in [sheathed crates](/crates/types/sheathed), where the plywood skin does most of the weather work.

Export rules and paperwork

A crated piano is wood packaging inside wood packaging. The crate lumber needs an IPPC stamp for most destinations, and the piano itself may contain materials that call for declarations at customs, such as ivory keytops or certain veneers. Check the rules with the destination country's authority and speak to your forwarder about the contents before the crate is closed.

Digital pianos, harpsichords and other keyboards

Not every keyboard instrument is a grand. A digital piano has a weighted action, a stand and a pedal unit; a harpsichord or a fortepiano has a delicate soundboard and a lid that must not shift. The same ideas apply: take off what comes off, brace what stays, and keep the case free of rubbing.

For electronic instruments, pack the power supply and cables in a labelled box and protect the screen with foam. A harpsichord is tuned by plucking, and the jacks and quills can snap if the lid is not blocked, so we fit a lid brace and cover the keyboard with a rigid board before the padding goes on.

Give us the exact make and model. A small digital instrument may ship in a cleated plywood box, while a concert grand needs a purpose-built case.

A small card inside the lid records the unpacking order, the leg positions and the pedal lyre orientation, so a technician reassembling the instrument works from the same notes the packer used.