From Broken Strings to Busted Brass: How to Avoid 6 Instrument Moving Blunders

1. Being Financially Unprepared for Damage

Musical instruments can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and repairing or replacing uninsured gear may drain your bank account.

Solution — Insure Expensive Musical Gear

Ensure your most prized instruments are insured to financially protect yourself if something happens to them during the move. If you plan to DIY the move, consider buying a specific policy because standard home insurance limits can’t fully cover them. A separate policy is worthwhile even if you only play music to improve your memory and enjoy yourself, as it can preserve your net worth, especially when your piano, harp or violin is a family heirloom.

Use qualified appraisers to evaluate your gear. These specialists  to judge the value of musical instruments. Depending on what you have, these groups may help you find competent appraisers:

• American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers

• American Guild of Organists

• American Musical Instrument Society

• American Society of Appraisers

• Guild of American Luthiers

• International Society of Appraisers

• Piano Technicians Guild

If you want to use a moving company, find a business specializing in musical instruments and carrying insurance adequate enough to cover 100% of possible damage. Such a company will face the music over catastrophic mistakes and compensate you accordingly.

2. Struggling to Transport Bulky Instruments

The average Steinway piano weighs half a ton, and other grand pianos are much heavier and bulkier. Transporting just one of them is notoriously burdensome. Playing it by ear can backfire, and figuring out how to fit one through doorways or stairs on the spot increases the risk of damage.

Solution — Measure Access Points Beforehand

Anticipate moving challenges by measuring the dimensions of wall openings and staircases against your piano ahead of time. Plan safe ways to overcome access problems to protect your instrument’s delicate components. Proactive planning can prevent accidents.

3. Relocating Sensitive Items as Is

Transporting musical gear in its current form to save time is a disaster waiting to happen.

Solution — Disassemble Instruments Before Packing

Some parts require more protection than others. Take apart your instruments to pack and move them more easily. While disassembling and reassembling your gear can be time-consuming, it’s a necessary sacrifice to keep woodwind, brass and percussion instruments in good condition.

Slightly loosening the strings of guitars, cellos, double basses and all that jazz minimizes tension and prevents breakage when transporting them over long distances.

4. Overrelying on Instrument Cases

Hard instrument cases can protect against impact. However, they’re not designed for the rigors of long-distance moves and aren’t suitable for stacking, which makes them challenging to secure.

Solution — Package With High-Quality Materials

Put your musical instruments in sturdy, stackable boxes to store them securely inside the truck. When packing hefty instruments, distributing cargo weight evenly minimizes strain and keeps the box in one piece throughout the move.

Encapsulate sensitive components with bubble wrap, and fill empty spaces with packaging peanuts to minimize movement.

5. Stacking Boxes Randomly

Nondescript boxes make it difficult to know which ones have fragile contents. Unlabeled storage units don’t say which should go where in the new house. Needing to open a box just to know what’s inside can jeopardize cargo safety, especially when you have to take it upstairs afterward.

Solution — Label Each Box Legibly

Every moving box should bear a written inventory of its contents and their intended destinations. This information can highlight which ones contain sensitive items, reminding whoever carries them to exercise extra care and attention.

Use a label maker instead of writing by hand. Handwritten labels are more prone to misinterpretation and can cause confusion. Seventy percent of Americans can’t understand other people’s handwriting, and 45% can’t read their own.

6. Underestimating the Workload

Many misjudge the amount of time and energy a move requires. This miscalculation can prolong the relocation, cause acute and chronic injuries that may arise from lifting heavy objects and compromise the safety of musical gear.

Solution — Get Enough Help

Many musical instrument owners use professional moving companies with expertise in handling such specialized cargo. These organizations teach workers the proper packing, loading, unloading and unpacking techniques to keep expensive, delicate items undamaged from beginning to end.

If you prefer to do it with friends or loved ones, invite enough strong individuals to handle the workload. Use proper equipment, like gloves and a piano dolly, to move large, heavy musical instruments and stacks of boxes safely and efficiently.

Follow These Tips to Hit the Right Note

Everybody has misconceptions about moving musical instruments. Hopefully, you changed your tune after learning about the common errors others make and how to do things correctly.

Written by Oscar Collins