tradition and progress

Every new organ is a challenge to which we devote ourselves with joy and engagement. For each instrument that has to be built, we first work on an individual concept. Besides the requests of the future user referring the sound, we do also take the size of the room, the acoustics and architectural peculiarities of the room, in which the Organ will be built up, into consid-eration. Organ builder, organists, experts and architects work together hand in hand and collect their ideas. From the first idea to the beginning of the production it is very often a long way.

The use of modern computer technology eases the design process of the exterior design of the instrument. The proportion of the organ's case will be set. The Instrument is composed into the room. The building of the organ front reflect the spreading of the departments in the interior of the Organ.

Obliged to the Saxon organ building tradition, we use the experiences of the generations for the development of our instruments. No matter if we deal with small portable chamber organs, church or concert hall organs we do always strive for a maximum of harmony between sound, inner structure and exterior design. The selection of high quality materials and their precise manufacture guarantees a reliable function as well as live span which is supposed to last for many generations.

Please find a choice of new organs, built from our company under the heading new organs.

The specification

includes the choice of the stops. Arranging them is one of the first production processes which determine the character of the organ's sound. Here we are in the Saxon Silbermann tradition but without neglecting subsequent important epochs like the romanticism and the modern.

The scaling

represents the next important step at the determination of sound. All important measures for the production of the pipes have to be harmonized individually with each instrument. Experience and musical sympathetic understanding of the respective acoustical reality of a room are very important for the success.

The design

of the organ front is done due to esthetical and constructive considerations. It is most important for us to find a harmonious solution referring to the architecture of the room and the case of the organ. The organ front reflects the interior structure of the organ's department.

The pipes

are made out of special metal or wood. Tin and lead serve as foundation for individually casted alloyings. Alloyings with 90% to 10% parts of tin are used. In a melting pot the metal will be smelt before it can be casted into plates. Afterwards they are planed to the desired thickness. The pipe's body and foot are cut out, rolled up and soldered together. For the production of the wooden pipes we use domestic wood like oak, spruce, pine tree and fruit-trees.

The wind chests

form the core of each Organ. In the wind chests the spreading of the wind to the single pipes takes place. The position of each pipe on the wind chest, the order of the single stops and the order of the pipes are set individually for each organ.

The console

is the connecting link between the instrument and the organist. The first contact shows if the instrument and the organist harmonize. Optimum plucking point, conditions of the keys, clearly arranged drawstops and an optical attractive design are decisive. The manual key is mostly covered with ebony and bone. We prefer solid oak wood for the pedal board. The organ bench is vertically adjustable and can individually be adjusted to the respective size of the organist.

The action

connects the key with the valve in the wind chests. The action should run soft, should have a good repetition capability as well as a pleasant plucking point. The dynamics of the key touch are relevant to the organist and to the interpretation of music corresponding to his ideas. A combination of wooden tracker squares with steel axles, rollers made out of wood or steel, roller brackets out of hardwood with felted holes as well as trackers out of fine grained fir form the elements of the action which meet with the requirements of an optimum action.

The stop action

connects the drawstop at the console with the slider stop on the wind chest. Here is also a demand for a soft and precise function. Well-designed turned draw-stops out of domestic and exotic rare wood form the visible part of the stop action. Behind it are upright standing wooden or metal rollers provided with levers. The rollers are encyst in ball races which cares for the necessary softness. Besides the pure mechan-ical stop action there are also electrical systems possible.

The case

forms the exterior frame of the instrument. Besides its esthetical function, it has a great influence on the radiation of the sound. The type with frame and panel meets with this requirements. Various wood types can be used for it. The design of the surface of the case in color offers moreover unlimited possibilities of creativity.

The voicing

considerably defines, besides the size of the pipe and the used materials, the characteristic of sound. 2 specialists in our company are exclusive entrust with this work. The voicing exactly adjusts the tone giving parts of the pipe, like foot hole, width of the flue, high of the cut-up, position of languid and upper lip. By it, the attack of the pipes, the intensity of sound and the tone control are determined for each single pipe. An immense musical sympathetic under-standing of the voicer is necessary that each stop gets its specific characteristic of sound and that all stops together form a well-balanced sound.

The tuning

During the final tuning the pipes will be cut to the exact speaking length or will be brought to the exact pitch level by tuning pieces on the pipe body.

The restoration

of valuable historical instruments is one of our workshop's most important tasks. We devote ourselves to it with special care. After a situation audit the historical background of each Instrument has to be investigated. Inquiries have to be made about the constructor and the surrounding, his works originate from. Based on this knowledge, individual conceptions for the restoration have to be developed. At this we are guided by the claim to preserve the existing historical inheritance of our ancestors and we would like to pass it on to the coming generations. We respect the handicraft and the individual musical characteristics of each master. Learning these characteristics is the basis of our work. To preserve the historical substance has absolute priority. Where the original substance is destroyed, it can be replaced by a reproduction that integrates with all aspects referring to style and material. In a special case this can mean that even historical production techniques are called back into being. The sounding peculiarities of an instrument can be preserved and are respected in a sympathetic manner. Our work is not restricted to instruments of a certain epoch but includes all epochs of the organ building history up to the 20th century. As an organ building company with the experience of five generations we are able to look back at rich experiences in restoration.

That is how we could restore numerous organs during the last years, please find a choice of them under the heading restorations.