EWWG toured the shop of Paul Fritts and Company Organ Builders and saw a 30 foot tall pipe organ in its almost-complete state. Paul has been in this line of work for over 30 years and his pipe organs have gone to all corners of the US, from New Jersey and New York, to Notre Dame and Columbus OH, to Stanford University and San Diego. He also has them in numerous locations around the Seattle area and even in Korea. They typically take 18 months for 8 craftsmen to build so they are quite a labor of love.
Paul Fritts has invited us to tour his shop and see his latest project- a 30 foot tall pipe organ destined for Houston, Texas. It’s very near completion, and as a result, is still open so you can see all the inner workings and construction details. A rare opportunity!!! His assembly area has two, wrap around balconies so you can see into the organ at three different levels. There also are ladders built into the organ for maintenance and tuning that you may be allowed to access to climb inside.

Paul explained the reasoning behind the different woods used for different portions of the organ. He answered questions about joinery, finishing, mechanics, carving, etc. State-of-the-art technology is used in some aspects and old world hand tooling in others.