With almost One Hundred Instruments already in our care, we are pleased to offer a complete Tuning and Maintenance Service under contract throughout Scotland.
Tuning and Maintenance
Since establishing the company in 1975, the conservation and restoration of pipe organs of good quality has been our prime objective. The materials used, techniques, methods of construction and tonal quality of individual builders, are copied as closely as is possible to ensure the workmanship of the past can continue to delight the ears of the future.
Restoration
Reports on the condition of an instrument and estimates for work are submitted free of charge to existing clients. New customers are charged a nominal sum for this service.
Reports and Estimates
We clean and overhaul pipe organs of any size and type. Thorough inspections are carried out and full reports submitted to the Church Authorities beforehand.
Cleaning and Overhauling
We are pleased to examine any instrument of good quality that has been made redundant through Church closure, with a view to careful dismantling and restoration for re-housing. Likewise, we would be delighted to find a suitable second hand instrument for those Churches seeking a good quality replacement pipe organ in place of an obsolete electronic substitute.
Redundant Instruments
Michael Macdonald Organ Builders
Welcome to the Macdonald website, we hope that this visit to our site will prove useful to you in formulating your pipe organ plans for the future. Specialising in the conservation, restoration and re-housing of pipe organs from redundant buildings. With over one hundred instruments throughout the British Isles, under contract for regular tuning and maintenance, we are proud to offer a very personal and professional service of the highest quality.
Established in 1975 we are the oldest Scottish Organ Building company trading today. Based in Glasgow it is an honour to be continuing the traditional craftsmanship of fine organ builders such as, J & A. Mirrlees (1812-1948), J. Brook (1880-1954), Richard Smith (1888-1926), Andrew Watt & Son (1898-1968), H. Hilsdon (1911-1954) and James A. Mackenzie (1960-2014).
Over the years, apart from the joy of working on instruments large and small, we have had the real pleasure of saving numerous historic organs. Through the careful removal, restoration and re-homing, these instruments have been given a chance to continue to delight the ears for years to come. As a well established firm with over Sixty Years experience in all matters relating to pipe organs we are fully able to offer impartial and comprehensive advice on all aspects of any organ problems that could arise, and will be very pleased to assist in any way possible.
My Thought for the Day, tomorrow BBC Radio Scotland at 7.20am and later online, on the mini-revival of sacred music and liturgy at St Brigid's Toryglen, on the occasion of the installation and solemn blessing of their 'new' organ, built in 1925 and previously serving Killin Parish Church in Perthshire. This small parish shows what can be done with modest resources and a lot of passion and care. It's more common for organs to face destruction than preservation. According to the charity Pipe Up For Pipe Organs, four of them are sent to landfill every week, and those that remain can sit unused. Praised by Mozart as the 'king of instruments', organs can be the gateway to a huge repertoire of choral and classical music, as well as accompanying congregations in their worship. Yet their survival is a small miracle, having been mostly all destroyed by Puritans in the 16th century in England, and frequently destroyed after the Scottish Reformation as "a kist o' whistles with the devil in every pipe", as only the unaccompanied human voice was thought suitable for praising God.All power to Father Gerard Byrne, Fraser Pearce : Organist, Singer, Teacher, Cantores Matris Dei, Michael Macdonald Organ Builders, Academy Of Sacred Music and everyone else who made this happen. I also touch on the use of the pipe organ in minimalist/drone/experimental music care of Kali Malone and Stephen O'Malley's performance at Glasgow Cathedral earlier this year. ... See MoreSee Less
