Olympic Organ Builders was an importer and custom fabricator of tracker action pipe organs in Seattle, Washington from 1962 through the 1970s. The company built approximately 25 organs for churches and schools located the Puget Sound and Eugene Oregon in the period from 1967 through 1970.
History
The company was an informal partnership formed in 1962 of and under the name ‘Olympic Organ Builders’ to import and install organs from :de:Gebr. Späth Orgelbau|Gebr. Späth Orgelbau, :de:Detlef Kleuker|Detlef Kleuker, and . They were joined by James R Ludden in 1967 when the partnership was formalized. Ludden opened the construction shop located in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle, in a building owned by White's father, that had been a heating and sheet metal shop. Dahl is an accomplished organist. He met Ludden while attending graduate school at University of Washington. Their first work together was revoicing the pipe organ at , Seattle, in 1962, which was celebrated by a concert featuring E. Power Biggs. White was the principal sales person and helped with visual design. White also voiced and tuned the organs. Dahl helped with sales and tonal design. Ludden did the engineering and supervised the three to five employees. Ludden trained as an organ builder in Germany in the shop of Detlef Kleuker, Brackwede, Germany, for a period of one year. Glenn trained as an acoustic engineer and was sound director at Seattle Center after working as a vibration engineer for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Dahl studied pipe organ at University of Washington and is now professor of organ at Pacific Lutheran University. Prior to forming Olympic Organ Builders, White had been ordering custom pipe organs and installing these on his vacations. He continued to work full time at Seattle Center. The firm built mostly small organs. Their first work was a one-manual organ displayed at the Episcopal National Convention in St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle. Ludden's masterpiece is located in the suspended choir loft at University Unitarian Church. Many of the organs were two-manual plus pedal practice organs. Employees included Beth Berry Barber, David O Ruberg, Barry Turley, and Randall McCarty. Construction effectively ended in 1970 when the partnership was formally dissolved after Boeing lost a large federal contract and the economy of . Glenn continued to use the name when installing imported organs during the 1970s.
A search of the internet will provide more current results than could be recorded here, but will include work attributed to the firm that was either done by White after the shop was closed or installations prior to the shop opening.
Small one-manual organ built to be shown at the Episcopal National Convention in Seattle, September 1967. This organ has moved several times.
