I would like to submit my own method for making new belly cloths for
grand reproducing pianos.  These things are frequently missing, and
even if an original is to be found, it has usually shrunk enough so
that it cannot be used as a template. My method seems like the fastest
way to me.  I invite comments from readers of MMD.

The case of the piano will almost always still have the male half of
the snap assembly.  The female half consists of a cup and a dome.  When
a new cover is being made, the new belly cloth is placed between the
cup and the dome, and then they are riveted together with the rivet
that is the underside of the dome piece.

My method is to get a number of small flat head or possibly pan head
screws that will fit in the un-riveted cup section (the head of the
screw is inside the cup; the shaft goes through the hole).  The head
cannot be too big; make sure that the cup can still be snapped on the
male pieces.  Now you must do this to all the male pieces, so that each
has a sharp little screw sticking out from the bottom.

Now you're ready to start to hang the new cover from the bottom of
the piano.  I personally start right in back of the stack and work
my way towards the back leg.  The cloth is attached by pushing it up
from underneath, onto a screw.  A piece of Styrofoam will protect your
hands.  You will probably discover that some areas of the cloth will
want to drop off from the screw.  I keep a number of pre-drilled
leather nuts handy for this purpose, although small squares of
corrugated cardboard will also do.

Obviously, attaching the cloth takes only a few minutes.  One advantage
here is that if you are not satisfied with any area, it is easy to
re-do.

Once you feel that it is as good as possible, get a pliers and
remove the belly cloth by grabbing one screw at a time and pulling
down.  At this point, the dome-cup unit should be riveted together.
If the cloth was repositioned during its fitting, (creating extra
holes) make sure that nothing gets riveted into them!  For a classier
looking cover, you can decide to fold over the edge so as to make each
riveted dome-cup unit have a double thickness of belly cloth.

Randolph Herr