About
Organ building, preservation and research.
Alistair McCartney is an organ builder and historiographer based in Belfast, working on instruments throughout Ireland.
The Work
A practice built on instruments, not on marketing.
The Pipe Organ Preservation Co. (of Ireland) was formed in 1999 as a semi-charitable venture to address pipe organs being displaced from their buildings, and to preserve heritage that would otherwise be lost.
Saving and preserving organs is only a small part of the work. As professional organ builders we are constantly involved in all aspects of organ building: tuning, repairs, design and major work.
Decades of experience — of everything from strict historic restorations to innovative new work — gives us the ability to deal with every organ situation. A large proportion of the organs in Northern Ireland are tuned and maintained by us on a regular basis, with new clients being added continually.
Alistair McCartney
Organ builder and historiographer.
Alongside the practical work of organ building, Alistair has spent many years compiling a record of organs — pipe, reed and electronic — in churches in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and has surveyed in detail most of the pipe organs past and present.
That historical knowledge is not separate from the workshop. Understanding how Irish builders worked, what they used and why, is what makes it possible to advise honestly on the future of an instrument.
Philosophy
What is retained matters as much as what is replaced.
As well as top-end new and restored work, we regularly take on work which would not otherwise be possible for reasons of cost or interest. Many organs have been improved over the years for affordable sums, and many are tuned and maintained free of charge.
We are also the custodians of many items, tools and archives from Irish organ building, and we collect and preserve these for the future.
We often rescue and store instruments until a new home can be found.
Enquiries
Considering work on an instrument?
We are glad to look at an organ and set out the realistic options — including doing nothing for the present.