Luley Organ Company

12/04/2023

Today we are at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center in Johnstown, PA delivering our lovely 4-stop for-hire portative for use by the Johnstown Symphony for their performances of Handel’s Messiah.

This little sweetheart started life as a 1977 Casavant. In 2018, Luley purchased this instrument and completed a full rebuild, including a cabinet refinish from milk chocolate brown that allowed the beautiful oak grain to shine through.

The Larigot 1 1/3 was replaced by an ingenious one-rank Mixture, and the 4’ Stopped Flute became a chimney flute by drilling out the stoppers.

The result is a flexible instrument that is capable of subtly filling both smaller halls such as Pasquerilla all the way to Pittsburgh’s incredible Heinz Hall.

The Portative is currently still available for select spring dates. Please reach out to us for more details and to make a reservation.

05/02/2023

The boss was in the shop today doing some inspections and a good sniff around. Luckily Ed’s work passed muster and treats were awarded!

09/27/2022

Yet another fantastic performance by Michael Michael R. Kearney at Epiphany Church! The core of the organ was 1903 Austin, revoiced and expanded by Luley Organ Company during the tumulutous period surrounding the loss of our shop during Hurricane Ivan. Thanks to Fr. Dan Sweeney and the congregation for seeing the project to completion at that time, and for the congregation to seeing after the maintenance of this glorious instrument in a grand space.

Michael KearneyplaysFeike Asma (1912-1984)Bewerking Psalm 97 vers 1Recorded atEpiphany ChurchPittsburgh, PAApril 4, 2022Organ: Luley III/36Registrant and A/V...

08/30/2022

Here is another fine performance by Michael Michael R. Kearney at Epiphany Church.

Michael KearneyplaysWilliam Ralph Driffill (1870-1922)Suite no. 1 in f minor, op. 14III. ToccataRecorded atEpiphany ChurchPittsburgh, PAApril 4, 2022Organ: L...

07/08/2022

Another project nearing completion is the rebuilding of a unique instrument in the Greenfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh. St. Rosalia's Roman Catholic Church in the St. Paul Cathedral Parish grouping houses an instrument with an interesting history. Most of the pipework comes from an organ originally installed at St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church in New York City. This massive V/85 instrument was built in Milan in 1925. When this organ was removed in 1958, a portion of it made its way to Pittsburgh and was installed at St. Rosalia's. Over the years the organ was tinkered with and underwent one rebuilding several decades ago, but upon inspection in 2021 it was in dire shape. Mangled pipework, pipe speech deficiencies and mechanical issues abounded. The parish opted to revitalize the instrument. The work we completed included revoicing of all usable pipework, the replacement of several badly damaged ranks, conversion from scroll to slide tuning, rewiring and reprogramming the relay, console adjustments, and finally the restoration of the facade pipes. This old organ now has yet another new lease on life. Our sincerest thanks to The Very Rev. Kris Stubna and music leadership of the parish, Dr. Brian Gurley, Kenneth Danchik, and Chris Catone, for helping in bringing this very gratifying project to fruition! AGO programs and concerts are in the making, so stay tuned!

07/08/2022

It has been a busy time at Luley Organs! With several projects underway simultaneously our social media presence has been lacking for some time, so... time to catch up a bit! First, we have completed the Great and Swell divisions of our new instrument for St. Anne Roman Catholic Church of St. Paul of the Cross Parish in Pittsburgh. The core of the instrument consists of pipework from the 1900 W.W. Kimball organ originally installed in Saint Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral in downtown Pittsburgh, which was then moved to the newly built Cathedral in Oakland around 1907. At the time of the installation of the monumental Rudolph von Beckerath organ in the Cathedral in 1962, the pipework from the old Kimball was donated to the newly built St. Anne church, where Tellers Organ Co. constructed a new III/38 organ using a portion of the Kimball pipework and making other additions. Over the years the organ was moderately modified, and in more recent decades suffered significant damage and degradation until it was practically unserviceable. Just prior to the onset of the global pandemic we were contracted to begin the first phase of building a new organ for St. Anne Church, starting with a new three-manual custom-built console. Excluding a handful of offset bass chests the instrument is mechanically brand new, all reusable pipework has been revoiced, and several additions have been made. At present the Great and Swell and a portion of the Pedal division have been installed. The final phase will entail the installation of the Choir division, the completion of the Pedal division including a restored 1885 Roosevelt 16' Open Wood, and a Tuba Mirabilis. Our sincerest thanks to Father Michael Caridi, Pastor, and Brendan Lowery, Music Director, for their vision and dedication to this project despite the disruptions to all our lives during the pandemic. Stay tuned (no pun intended) for further news!

06/27/2022

A fantastic recording by a great young organist, Michael Kearney, on our organ at Epiphany Roman Catholic Church in Pittsburgh!

Michael R. KearneyplaysMax Reger (1873-1916)Prelude in d minor, Op. 65, No. 7Recorded atEpiphany ChurchPittsburgh, PAApril 4, 2022Organ: Luley III/36Registra...

03/04/2022

Spending time in this amazing building with this great instrument is always a good way to end the week. We are beginning our Easter tunings in the coming weeks, and if you are in the market for a tuning or service company, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team. We are always accepting new clients!

We love our organ! We have not one, not two, but three skilled individuals helping to tune it today! Join us this Sunday at 10:45 to hear the results! 🎼🎹

10/29/2021

New toys! Today begins installation of our latest instrument of 40 ranks at St. Paul of the Cross Parish in Castle Shannon, PA. We are excited to try out our new mobile crane. This will help us lift up to 1,500lbs 25ft in the air. More pictures to come!

02/17/2021

We just got a new toy!!

Due to increased demand for our work, we’ve decided to invest in a CNC router made by Axiom Precision. This will allow us to automate a significant amount our woodworking - with great precision and quality control. Everything from console parts, pneumatics, casework, and even chestwork are possible. We are very excited for our inaugural project - continued work on the organ at St. Paul of the Cross Parish (old St. Anne Church) in Castle Shannon.

In the future we will begin accepting router project orders as well, so please let us know how we can help you with your projects!

02/06/2021

Using the shell of a 1960's Allen Organ, we stripped and gutted the instrument, restained and refinished the exterior, rewired the keyboards, rebuilt the nameboard and jambs to accommodate two screens, and installed a Midi Control Unit from Classic Midi Works.

Contact us today to have one completed for your home practice instrument!