R.A. Colby | Pipe Organ Builder

R.A. Colby | Pipe Organ Builder Builder of the Highest Quality Pipe Organs & Pipe Organ Consoles

11/26/2025

Such a beautiful organ!!

Merry Christmas!
12/20/2024

Merry Christmas!

It’s just utter chaos until it gels into a sleek lifetime instrument. It’s such a strange alchemy on an install when the...
11/20/2024

It’s just utter chaos until it gels into a sleek lifetime instrument. It’s such a strange alchemy on an install when the insurmountable problems suddenly just surrender and this new beautiful thing happens.

So the fire alarm crew got all Gojira on your mixture. The brave little pipes are savable but they need evac to a skille...
11/09/2024

So the fire alarm crew got all Gojira on your mixture. The brave little pipes are savable but they need evac to a skilled pipe doctor. What do you do to not lose color in your instrument (and block the channels so the survivors can still speak)? Add some artful improvisation.

Just almost doesn’t look real, right? Saint Cecilia in Houston has all the light and all the sound and is just a wonderf...
11/08/2024

Just almost doesn’t look real, right? Saint Cecilia in Houston has all the light and all the sound and is just a wonderful church family to be adopted in to.

10/31/2024

Happy Halloween. Crank the Saint-Saens to 11, fill a bowl with Riccola for all the choristers who’ll come begging at your door, and remember all the saints and sinners who’ve moved on.

We are very committed to neat wiring, mostly because it is important for clarity and serviceability but we also just lov...
10/30/2024

We are very committed to neat wiring, mostly because it is important for clarity and serviceability but we also just love for stuff to look goooooood. There’s another reason to not let your instrument go full Jumanji- a darker reason.

Let me lay out the scene: a remote spot only visited by humans twice a year for tuning; thick viny undergrowth; an endless supply of ladybugs for a high protein diet. You know who thrives in the few scattered habitats where these factors come together? You already know, you already feel the hairs rising on your neck.

It’s Sasquatch.

Manage your cables or your gonna get a squatch. Every region of the US has some variety of wood ape and you do not want them making territorial displays in your mixture. I’ll throw a few aftermath pictures in the comments so you can fully understand what a big footprint these gentle giants can leave in your instrument. 👣

Real organ builder horror stories-Whoops! So many parts. So many moving pieces. So many slippery details. This isn’t our...
10/30/2024

Real organ builder horror stories-

Whoops! So many parts. So many moving pieces. So many slippery details. This isn’t our instrument but there is something very humane about this lone tubed pipe functioning perfectly off on its own. Somebody made a mistake so grievous that there was no choice but to basically make a monument to that mistake and place it prominently at the end of the walkboard like a little shrine to the patron saint of forehead slapping. Distant builder I salute you.

In this spooky season it’s important to remember that the world is filled with real horror and unkindness which is why I...
10/28/2024

In this spooky season it’s important to remember that the world is filled with real horror and unkindness which is why I want to focus on one of our perennial causes here at Colby. We donate lots of money and we think you should too.

More and more facade pipes fall victim to self harm and suicidal tendencies every year. The numbers are staggering. One in five show pipes make some attempt at self harm before they can be installed and a staggering one in ten actually attempts su***de at some point in their installation process. Whether by pretending to be stable on a surface until you turn your back or the classic “yeah, I’m definitely completely on the hook. Walk away I’m fine.” These misunderstood beauty queens need all our help during their difficult childhoods before they find stable forever homes of their own. Donate today, tomorrow, just over and over until the facade is done. Thank you for your time. God bless.

Really really real really true true life organ builder horror stories-You’re screwed. These guys. Hiding in the darkest ...
10/27/2024

Really really real really true true life organ builder horror stories-

You’re screwed. These guys. Hiding in the darkest corners of our most holy spaces are these tiny devils. They do not seek you out. They wait. They abide. They even keep the wind from whistling so they can’t be easily banished.
You crawl in. If you think about them at all you admire their symmetry and function. What good screws they are to keep the air where it should be… but then you crawl forward into the darkness. First a few hairs are ripped out. Foolish you getting too close to the benevolent fasteners. Then more, cursing and ducking as you try to get to light at the impossibly far end of this crawl. Horrific pain as another screw splits your kneecap and a groan as you fall and lose another hank of hair and get a reservoir rod in the ribs. This instrument doesn’t want blood, at least not yet. It wants to remove a few cells at a time until it gets to blood.

Personal, very low grade, organ builder horror story that should probably just be called an organ builder annoyance stor...
10/27/2024

Personal, very low grade, organ builder horror story that should probably just be called an organ builder annoyance story. More limbo than hell-

You’re an organbuilder who has committed to making a spooky post every day till All Saints but you’re watching the clock play out because it’s a driving day in a 26’ truck. You’ve got no power on the uphills and no pardon from the governor on the downhills. Bouncing around with noise canceling head phones on, trying to pass the same guy who wants to drive 67 but will happily speed up to 71 if he catches the reflection of you passing in his phone screen and glances up. Watching your gps’ estimated arrival slowly swallow the midnight deadline. Spoooooooky. Spooky enough for tonight at least. Goodnight y’all.

10/26/2024

Almost real organ builder horror stories-

If this zimbelstern is activated it will not stop spinning until it tastes human blood.

Address

2300 S Roan Street
Johnson City, TN
37601

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+14232824473

Website

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