HISTORY OF LEVSEN ORGAN COMPANY

Rodney Levsen, Founder

Levsen Organ Company started as a proprietorship with one employee, Rodney Levsen.  Levsen’s expertise in piano tuning and electronic organ repair evolved to concert piano tuning and servicing pipe organs and finally in 1954, Levsen Organ Company, a nationwide full-service pipe organ builder came into existence.  Levsen Organ Company incorporated in 1980, purchased land and in 1981, moved to a new building located at 221 Maple Street in Buffalo, Iowa.  Throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, the company operated with the main building and a small warehouse just to the south; but in 2003, business increased so measurably that the operations was expanded with a new 40 x 80 warehouse just to the north of the main plant.

Today, Rodney Levsen, President, and his staff of 14 employees provide maintenance and tuning services for 160+ organs throughout the Midwest.  They take extreme pride in building new organs from scratch as well as selectively rebuilding existing organs, normally with all new windchests and consoles built and fabricated in their own plant.  Their operation is mainly woodworking; and they have a well-equipped wood shop.  The new warehouse holds an ample stock of basswood, oak, walnut and veneers for the building of organs.  Levsen Organ Company has 11 Sales Representatives strategically located across the United States to assist with projects located in their respective territories; and their Production Schedule usually reflects a 14 – 18 month backlog. 

Levsen has a deep interest in preserving organs that have musical and historical value and has restored many of those organs.  Rodney Levsen is a member of the Organ Historical Society (OHS) and a charter member and officer of his local chapter, Eastern Iowa Organ Historical Society. He has been a sustaining member of the American Guild of Organist (AGO) since 1965, a member of the American Institute of Organ Builders (AIO) and an active member of the International Society of Organ Builders (ISO) since its beginning in 1957.  As an active member of the ISO, he and his wife have toured hundreds of organs while attending ISO Congresses in Germany, England, France, the Baltic States, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and Spain.

Levsen created the burning mandrel, a tool that revolutionized chest-building procedures that is now being used domestically as well as in many foreign countries.  Levsen Organ Company also developed software used in organ design and building that has taken scaling and pipe designing to new levels of accuracy and quality unheard of in the past.

Levsen Organ Company is inclined to build in the American Classical tonal design, a design that yields an eclectic instrument that is flexible as a worship organ should be.  Levsen Organ Company believes in building affordable organs with the finest quality materials and state-of-the-art technology.  They build both high quality slider pallet mechanical action and electric action instruments.