About Us
Origins
The business was established in 1984 in South London. Originally supplying perforated cardboard music, all musical arrangements being made by Kevin Meayers and blank cardboard books manufactured on the premises. Kevin is a trained musician playing clarinet, piano and organ. It was this musical background that formed the perfect basis for arranging music specifically for mechanical musical instruments. The business grew quickly and soon requests were being made for tuning and maintenance. Sub-contract work on behalf of Chiappa Ltd, London (Established 1864), H. Voigt Orgelbau, Frankfurt (Established 1832) & Henry Willis IV began and gradually work grew to include restoration and conservation of complete instruments.
Kevin Meayers at a punching machine in 1982
Victor Chiappa (left) and Kevin outside the Chiappa factory in 1985
Expansion and Relocation
Larger premises were taken on in London and during this time organ restoration started in earnest, in parallel with supplying cardboard music. Today the business is based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, housed in a large factory with complete workshop facilities for all aspects of organ restoration, conservation and building. Perforated cardboard and paper music is still a large part of the business. Three members of the team are dedicated to organ restoration, two for music preparation and cutting as well as an administration post. Only the most highly skilled and sympathetic people are employed, their backgrounds cover a variety of skills including; organ building, musicianship, cabinet making, engineering and design.
The acquisition of assets from H. Voigt Orgelbau (Est. 1832), Frankfurt were made in 2012, which included much of the machinery, music patterns and archives of A. Ruth & Sohn (Est. 1841), Waldkirch. The association with the firms of Chiappa Ltd, London and the Voigt family continue to this day.
Broad International Customer Base
Today the firm caters for private collections, charitable trusts, museums and showman worldwide. We specialise in work on instruments produced in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany (as well as many others). In addition to the manufacture and restoration of musical instruments and perforated cardboard and paper music we also specialise in the import and export of these items from our Chesham works.
