About the Petty Shop

Here I am back in 1999 during the first year of my apprenticeship at the Brombaugh shop at the voicing jack, pre-voicing the very first set of metal pipes I had ever made.  These were pipes for John's Opus 35, the wonderful instrument we in his shop built for First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, Illinois.

A lifelong musician and singer, I was born in Texas in 1957 and spent most of my formative years in the South and Midwest.  I had good musical instruction and managed to acquit myself well on the piano and viola (not simultaneously).  I have always loved singing, particularly in church with a pipe organ and I sense how well they go together.  While doing that is not everyone's cup of tea, it was exactly what stoked the fires of my desire to build organs.  I studied organ formally at the University of Missouri - Columbia while I was studying engineering and numerous foreign languages.

My "adult" life after college began as a chemical engineer (BSChE, 1980), working mostly in the plastics industry, but all the while I stayed actively involved in music, mostly through participation in better vocal ensembles, a tradition I have maintained to this day.In 1988, I was given a 40-stop Kilgen for taking it out.  Imagine!  I was in heaven.  I found a home for it and have since done so for other instruments but my real joy is in building the highest possible quality tracker organs with wonderful sounds.  I worked for John Brombaugh at his Glenwood shop from March of 1999 until finishing my formal training in September of 2003.  I set up my own shop, formed an LLC and have been busy ever since.

In addition to building entirely new organs for churches, schools, homes and individuals, we offer a full line of design services (AutoCAD 2007) and can produce full-sized prints.  We will design and build organ components for you, including but not limited to:  windchests, actions, pipes, casework and other components.  We also create windchest templates and pipe layouts.  We do pipe repair, reconditioning, revoicing and tuning as part of our organ maintenance efforts; we consult for organ construction/restoration projects. Call or write if you have further questions about our services.

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