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From When I began college, I had a choice between music or engineering majors. I chose engineering. I encountered my first mechanical action pipe organ while in college, and with that began an opportunity to pursue a not so obvious career path. I obtained the engineering degree, learning mechanical and electrical aspects of pipe organ building along the way, and then began to study the pipe organ in a historic context, concentrating on noteworthy European baroque instruments and the work of early American builders like David Tannenberg and Thomas Appleton whose work I value for its softer voicing technique and use of wood pipes. The principles of historic tradition are very much a part of my pipe organ design process. Along with fine craftsmanship, their application to each new instrument helps to achieve an enduring result. Mechanical key and stop action, natural voicing, and a free-standing solid hardwood case are part of that tradition. I include at least one wood stop in each specification for the warmer tone that wood pipes provide. I make all wood pipes myself from suitable hardwoods. The metal pipes are made in the Netherlands from alloys of tin and lead, and older pipes are used if they add some rare value to the organ. June 30, 2004 |
