Castor cups for a Yamaha U1

[funkyr]

Hi all,

I had a few questions about my piano that I've bought (to be delivered soon). I have wooden floors and have decided to get some castor cups.

How many castor cups do I need? 2 or 4?
What size? I'm guessing 40mm?
Any benefits of rubber vs wooden?

Thanks!

[Colin Nicholson]

I am presuming its an upright piano?

If upright, you will need 4 castor cups - one for each castor. They vary in size/design/material & cost, so best check out what you prefer. Most grand pianos require 3 cups.
Brown plastic 66mm
Clear plastic 86mm
Wooden 75mm - 125mm
(sizes are approximate)

If you have a wooden/laminate flooring and you don't need to move your piano again, then castor cups are fine, but if the piano is to me moved (eg pulled out to clean behind), then to avoid damaging the floor, best to have fitted rubber wheels instead of brass/steel. Sizes vary according to the size and weight of piano - and also check out the plate size & if fitted with a pummell fitting, usually require a drill bit of between 10-13mm to fit the pummell.

If the piano is quite old, maybe best to replace the castors - a decent castor is the twin-wheel 'rubberex' castor with ball bearings, and used frequently for school hall pianos. Most rubber castors dont require castor cups - these are mainly to protect carpet/lino etc.

If you ask your local piano tuner/ technician, they should be able to help, and they will require a bench truck to 'lever' the piano onto its back - hope that helps

http://www.fletcher-newman.co.uk/frameset.html

click on above for an idea - should be fine for a U1

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

I always provide a set of 4 small plastic castor cups to go with my pianos. The bog standard ones from B&Q do the job well. I supply felt-bottomed ones for wood floors or just plain plastic ones for carpeted floors. Not sure of the size but they are a nice snug fit and cost about £3.

It's very tricky to fit the rear castor cups if one of the piano is pushed into the corner of the room. My Dad invented a method to put them under with minimal fuss. I'll make a video showing how it's done at some point.

Anyway, hope that helps a little.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

We posted at the same time Colin
I think the rubber ones from Fletcher and Newman leave the piano a touch higher than with the original brass castors so that's something to be aware of. It just makes pedalling a touch more awkward. But yes for about £80 you can have a set of rubber castors which are miles better than the original brass ones if you need to be moving it around quite often.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

P.s. You can swap castor cups just by placing the piano onto a mover's trolley and then tilting up at one end. There is just enough room to get under with the screwdriver and do the business. Best to have someone steady the piano at the same time just in case the screwing disturbs the balance of the piano

We should write a booklet on castor cup choice and installation Colin haha

[Colin Nicholson]

Mark, Ha ha! yeh, I was toying with selling my bench truck since moving into a smaller house, but then received 2 orders for castors & pedal repairs!! - its staying 'PUT' even though I have little room for it. Don't remind me about that rear - right castor!! I partly restored a Bogs & Voigt action in May, and the rear right castor seized up solid (the customer didn't want to have new castors fitted - humbug!), so I WD40'd it, and it helped a bit. Then they wanted castor cups fitted coz of their new floor - so I used a small double-sided sticky pad (from Ikea), and stuck it to the bottom of the castor.... job done! - and yes, the piano had to be backed into a corner. I agree about the pedalling bit, and thats why I think its best not to have new rubber ones and cups, as theoretically, some designs of castor cups also change the height of pianos - but I know what you mean.

I had to up-end the piano to replace the pedal rebate cloth/felt also. Nightmare trying to put it back into the corner with that seized castor, but struggled on and lifted the keybed with my knees - and it just slid into place - the jobs we need to do!!

[Barrie Heaton]

Hi all,

How many castor cups do I need? 2 or 4?
What size? I'm guessing 40mm?
Any benefits of rubber vs wooden?

Thanks!

As pointed out you will need 4

On a wooden floor 45mm will do on carpet 70mm is better to spread the load on the carpet

Rubber cups stop the sound form going into the floor good if you live in a semi

Wood one have a few advantages over plastic and rubber they have a felt insert so on a wooden floor you can slide the piano if you are careful, useful if you have drooped something behind the piano. Also as they are wood they can match the floor

Plastic are OK the cheaper one do split after a wile they are not so good on wooden floors as they can mark if they are too small

Barrie

[vernon]

For goodness sake!
What's the problem with fitting castor cups?
Someone tilt the joanna forward ,someone else reaches behind and fits the rear cups. Lift up the front and insert the front ones. job done. huff puff . never heard so much nonsense.

[MarkGoodwinPianos]

haha vernon, it ain't that easy with a U3.
There is a much easier way.

your method takes 3 people really and when it comes to lifting the front end you'll risk bashing the wall at the back.

I'll post video one day showing our brilliant new method