The firm was founded in 1970 by Michael Quimby, President and Tonal Director, and incorporated in the State of Missouri in 1980. The company has built and restored organs throughout the United States, including the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (New York City), St. Paul's Cathedral (San Diego), St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church (Palm Desert, CA), and Catalina United Methodist Church (Tucson, Arizona).
Along with building new instruments and restorations, Quimby Pipe Organs maintains and tunes instruments in the Midwest and across the country.
Quimby Pipe Organs is a member firm of APOBA, the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America, and co-sponsors the American Guild of Organists' biannual Regional Competitions for Young Organists.
Further reading
Pickering, David (2012). The Auditorium Organ. Richmond: OHS Press.
Whitney, Craig R. (2003). All the Stops: the Glorious Pipe Organ and its American Masters. New York: PublicAffairs.
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass. Most organs have many ranks of pipes of differing timbre, pitch, and volume that the player can employ singly or in combination through the use of controls called stops.
Æolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts was an American builder of a large number of pipe organs from its inception as the Skinner Organ Company in 1901 until its closure in 1972. Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner (1866–1960), Arthur Hudson Marks (1875–1939), Joseph Silver Whiteford (1921-1978), and G. Donald Harrison (1889–1956). The company was formed from the merger of the Skinner Organ Company and the pipe organ division of the Æolian Company in 1932.
Gabriel Kney is a Canadian builder of pipe organs based in London, Ontario.
Ernest Martin Skinner was one of the most successful American pipe organ builders of the early 20th century. His electro-pneumatic switching systems advanced the technology of organ building in the first part of the 20th century.
George Donald Harrison was responsible for the design of some of the finest and largest pipe organs in the United States. Born in Huddersfield, England, he first worked as a patent attorney in 1914 but after military service he began to pursue an interest in pipe organ building, working with Henry Willis & Sons of London.
Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other countries.
Mander Organs Limited formerly N.P Mander Limited was an English pipe organ maker and refurbisher based in London. Although well known for many years in the organ building industry, they achieved wider notability in 2004 with the refurbishment of the Royal Albert Hall's Father Willis Grand Organ. The company filed for insolvency in 2020.
Dobson Pipe Organ Builders is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Lake City, Iowa.
Austin Organs, Inc. is a manufacturer of pipe organs based in Hartford, Connecticut. The company is one of the oldest continuously-operating organ manufacturers in the United States. The first instruments were built in 1893 with the Austin Patent Airchest, and many remain in fine playing condition to this day.
William Drake (1943–2014) was the founder of the firm of William Drake, Organ Builder that manufactures pipe organs in Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. He held a Royal Warrant as organ builder to Queen Elizabeth II.
Pasi Organ Builders, based in Roy, WA, manufactures mechanical action organs and restores historic instruments. Martin Pasi received his first formal experience in organ building during a four-year apprenticeship with the Rieger Company in his native Austria. After working in Austria and in the United States, Pasi set up his own studio, Pasi Organ Builders, in 1990 in a former school building in Roy, Wash.
Marcussen & Søn, also known as Marcussen and previously as Marcussen & Reuter, is a Danish firm of pipe organ builders. They were one of the first firms to go back to classical organ-building techniques, and have been producing mechanical-action organs since 1930. Aside from their many instruments in Denmark, they have built organs in northern Germany, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Great Britain, South Africa, Japan, and the United States.
J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd is a British firm of organ builders established in 1828 by Joseph William Walker in London. Walker organs were popular additions to churches during the Gothic Revival era of church building and restoration in Victorian Britain, and instruments built by Walker are found in many churches around the UK and in other countries. The firm continues to build organs today.
Kilgen was a prominent American builder of organs which was in business from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century.
Dirk Andries Flentrop was a Dutch organ builder. He built or restored many major organs in the United States and in Europe. He was noted for his 1977 restoration of two organs from the 17th and 18th centuries in the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral.
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational hymn-singing and play liturgical music.
Olympic Organ Builders was an importer and custom fabricator of tracker action pipe organs in Seattle, Washington from 1962 through the 1970s. The company built approximately 25 organs for churches and schools located the Puget Sound and Eugene Oregon in the period from 1967 through 1970.
Manuel J. Rosales, Jr., is an American organ builder whose instruments display a strong synthesis of romantic and contemporary styles. His workshop has built over 30 pipe organs with his notable output including collaborations on the instruments at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Rice University.
Charles Marie Courboin (1884–1973) was a Belgian–American organ virtuoso who enjoyed popularity during the 1920s. During this time he was engaged by department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker to oversee the second enlargement of the Wanamaker Organ. He added the huge string and orchestral sections bringing it to 461 ranks and 28,482 pipes. He also served as Director of Music for St. Patrick Cathedral, New York City from 1943 until his retirement in 1968.
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