Taylor and Boody Organbuilders
George K. Taylor and John H. Boody founded Taylor & Boody Organbuilders in 1977. Taylor, a graduate of Washington and Lee University, was awarded a Ford Foundation grant to study organ building with Rudolph von Beckerath in Hamburg Germany. Boody, a University of Maine graduate, apprenticed with Fritz Noack in Georgetown, MA. Taylor and Boody first worked together as partners along with John Brombaugh in Middletown, OH. Between 1970 and 1977 John Brombaugh and company built some twenty organs. In 1979 George Taylor and John Boody moved the company to its present location, a renovated school building three miles west of Staunton, Virginia.
Taylor and Boody continues this tradition of high quality organ building in the historical tradition. All the parts of the organs are made in our Virginia workshop including the metal pipes and reed stops. The team of fifteen workers has long experience building the parts and fitting them together in a complete instrument. The whole building process from initial conception through the finished voicing is under the supervision of George Taylor and John Boody. In over thirty years of business we have completed more than sixty instruments for churches, schools and private studios. The company has also undertaken museum quality restorations of important historic organs including the 1800 David Tannenberg organ from the Home Moravian Church in Salem, North Carolina. The knowledge and practice of distinctive styles of building gained in these restoration projects has led the firm to build new organs in distinctive historical styles. These include a three manual meantone organ in the Arp Schnitger style for the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and a David Tannenberg inspired organ for the First Presbyterian Church in Pittsford, New York.
Each project undertaken by Taylor and Boody is a unique creation requiring thousands of hours of design, study and manufacturing. An important part of our work is providing advice and consultation on acoustical renovation and suggestions for the creation of new spaces for music and worship. We invite your inquiry for your future organ building project.
