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Keeping Pipe Organs Alive
- Providing technical services since 1999
- Manufacturer-independent assessment and recommendations
- Tuning, maintenance, repair, restoration, rebuilding and installation
- Expertise across pipework, wind systems, windchests, consoles and control systems
- A direct W-2 workforce for primary service, with third-party specialists used in collaboration with customers when unique projects require additional domain expertise
- In-house apprenticeship program for developing the next generation of pipe-organ technicians
- Written findings, work records and closeout documentation to support long-term continuity of instrument care
- Flat monthly billing programs offered for recurring tuning and maintenance
- National service coverage and long-term care relationships
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Möller Opus 10689
Craftsman is restoring Möller Opus 10689, a six-rank pipe organ built in 1969 for Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in San Diego. Its next home will be a composer’s studio, where it will be played and recorded.
This journal follows the project from the original factory drawings through removal, workshop restoration and installation. We’ll document the work as it happens, with apprentices learning alongside experienced technicians.
The organ and its next home
Möller built Opus 10689 as an Artiste organ with two manuals and pedal. Its original factory specifications and drawings provide a reference for the restoration and a record of how the instrument was built.
The work includes re-leathering, modernizing the console and controls for MIDI, and building a new swell box. After restoration, we’ll install the organ in the studio and share its first recording there.
Follow the restoration
Our first article looks at the original drawings and preparations for removal and restoration.
Further updates will follow the removal, leatherwork, console and control changes, new swell box and installation. Photographs and workshop notes will show what we find and how we approach the repairs.
Keeping the organ in use
Craftsman’s goal is to keep as many pipe organs in use as possible. For Opus 10689, that means giving an instrument built for a church a new working life in a recording studio.
The project also gives apprentices the opportunity to work through a restoration alongside experienced technicians, from removal to installation. We’ll preserve the original documentation and record our changes so the organ’s history travels with it.
For help with an instrument in the region, see our San Diego pipe organ services.