Walter Shoffner spent twelve years restoring and rebuilding upright and grand pianos in a Chattanooga repair shop before he ever loaded one onto a truck. He’d watch a piano he’d just spent weeks bringing back to life go out the shop door in a general mover’s hands and come back with a cracked leg or a knocked-loose action. In 2013 he started Shoffner Piano Movers because Chattanooga families, churches, and venues deserved riggers who’d actually had a piano apart on a workbench, not just people who know how to lift heavy things.
Walter still takes the grand and concert grand rigging jobs himself, especially the ones with a spiral staircase or a tight Lookout Mountain driveway involved. Office manager Denise Callahan builds every written quote and confirms building or venue access before a truck is ever scheduled. Lead rigger and crew chief Terrence Wade runs the grand and concert grand jobs and trains every new hire on the boards and skids. Crew chief Yolanda Briggs runs piano prep, padding, and crating, and coordinates the long-distance and event jobs.
We run 6 company trucks, each fitted with piano boards, skids, and ramps — never a rented cargo van. The crew is 11 people total, and every one of them is a direct employee: Walter, Denise, Terrence, Yolanda, and seven full-time piano riggers. We don’t subcontract piano moves to outside labor crews — the riggers who quote your move are the ones who show up for it.
Shoffner Piano Movers is Tennessee-registered and insured, with federal US DOT and MC authority for anything crossing a state line, serving Chattanooga and all of Hamilton County. Every quote is priced by piano type and put in writing before the truck ever loads, and we build in discounts for churches, schools, and repeat customers rather than tacking on fees later. If you’re trusting us with an instrument that matters, that’s exactly the point Walter built this company around.
