An organ's "voice" is of, course, its pipes. In our fully equipped metal shop, pipes of all sizes are made to exacting standards. Pipe metal is cast on a Portland stone casting bench and then it is planed on the largest metal planing machine in Britain. Many details of pipe construction are discussed between the metal shop and the voicers. No two organs are exactly alike. Placement, use and style all vary according to requirements and, in order to ensure that those exacting requirements are met, every single instrument is individually scaled. Pipes are made in a variety of compositions from high lead content for flutes to 75 per cent hand-burnished tin for facade pipes.

Once made, the pipes have to be given their voices. All the pipework is carefully prepared in our voicing shops, but the tonal finishing is always carried out on site, stop by stop, to ensure it is perfectly matched to the building for which it has been conceived. It is this final attention by the artist-voicer which determines the beauty and versatility which is the mark of an outstanding instrument.

The voicing shop is directed by MICHAEL BLIGHTON who has been with the firm since 1980, the bulk of that time in the voicing shop itself. He is well versed in the technical requirements for the voicing of both reed and flue pipes and has acquired considerable experience in a variety of tonal styles through his work with the musicians who are our customers. His meticulous care and attention to detail are evident as much in the matching of new pipework to old, as in the creation of new instruments.