Hey there Darrell,

I've only had to replace one belly cloth and I sub-contracted the help
of a auto upholstery shop.  They did a really nice job.  I took the old
one to them, they increased the size by a half an inch to accommodate
the shrinkage that occurs over time, and the snaps were installed by
them in my shop as the cloth was installed on the piano.  It turned out
perfect.  The reduction in noise was aided by the funny looking stuff
they added on the piano side of the cloth that resembled a really huge
Brillo pad.  This was very much like the original stuff that was
turning to dust rapidly.  If the cloth is totally missing, I'd try to
make a pattern of the underside of the piano out of newspaper.

I saw your post regarding this subject earlier but didn't get around to
composing a response, and then I got inundated with inlaws and outlaws
for a week or two.  I'm glad you reposted.

Lar

>    I didn't see any response to my previous question re the need for
> player grand belly cloth ---- not a hot topic, I guess, but  I am still
> interested if anyone has any thoughts.  Repost:  "Question: The belly
> cloth is missing from my Steck grand.  Should I replace it and
> hopefully reduce some of the mechanical noise, or is it more trouble
> than it's worth?  What do other other owners do and what material would
> they recommend?"
>

                 Larry Fisher RPT, Metro Portland, Oregon's
        Factory Preferred Installer for MSR/PianoDisc Products
             phone 360-256-2999 or email larryf@pacifier.com
        http://pacifier.com/~larryf/homepage.html (revised 5/96)
               Beau Dahnker pianos work best under water