Organ building
The greatest wish of my father was to build an organ in my childhood home. You could say that the attention of my father was focused on building a small organ. With this perspective in mind, he maintained lively contacts with organ builders and was for instance a member of the Stichting Orgelcentrum in Leiden and the Gesellschaft der Orgelfreunde in Germany. This influenced me as well. His passion of the organ also included visits to pipe factories ( for instance Stinkers in Zeist ) and organ builders who were specialised in making small organs, such as organ builder van Oosten in Rotterdam-Overschie.

C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
Father in the workshop of......
C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
.....organbuilder van Oosten
C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
listening a little bit longer.....


C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
.......I was also allowed to play a little

By using his extensive connections, it was possible for him to obtain “old pipe work” and other parts for a reasonable price. This gave my father the opportunity to work on his own design in the cellar of his shop.

C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
Inside of the organ
C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
precisionwork

Organ builder Arie Verduyn from Slikkerveer had already made a drawing for our future organ. It was the intention that the organ would be placed in the cupboard under the stairs in the living room. This was the cupboard where my mother’s thing's were, like the vacuum cleaner, cleaning resources, old cloth, sewing resources, flowerpots etc. Clearly, my father’s wish was easier said than done......

C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
Drawing of the future homeorgan
C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
Father looks at his dream in Vlaardingen......

But my father would’t be my father if he hadn’t already had a model of the organ on the chimney. In this way, the family could gradually become familiar with the idea. A lot of arithmetic was involved in building it. The craziest places were used for this.

C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
Bach looks on as an organ is build......

Finally, after having spent years working on it – building it was the fun part – the first showpiece, the front, saw the light of day. Made according to his own design and with material that my father had scraped together from wherever he could find it.

C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
the front
    
 
C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
Ornamental Work in Balsa Wood, pipes of tin and lead and.........
C.M. van Esch - orgelbouwer
natural oakwood......

My father unexpectedly died in 1974 on the age of 55, as a result of which the organ could not be finished. The front is preserved and can be seen in its magnificent splendour in my apartment in my current residence Leiderdorp, where I live with my wife Inge A few years ago I became the happy possessor of a Johannus Rembrandt 350. The front has found a deserving place above it..



Leiderdorp
The Johannus Rembrandt 350 organ with front


Leiderdorp
In the study.....

Leiderdorp
.....enough registers to choose from


knop