Shires Organ Pipes
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THE ART AND CRAFT OF DISPLAY ORGAN PIPES

Display organ pipes made to your specification in our workshop

Display pipes by Shires on the Tickell organ of St Mary-le-Bow, London.
Shires has the skill and experience to make display pipes to your specification, such as those on the left created for the organ in St Mary-le-Bow, London.

We can also design the mouths according to your wishes, whether it be for the upper or lower lips. On this site you will see some of our display pipes featuring Roman, diamond or bayleaf patterns. Front pipes can be fitted with hooks or they can be provided for later attachment.
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We can make removable panels on pipes for voicing, and languids on bass notes are ​always strengthened with a brass bar down to eight foot F. Zinc liners are fitted in the feet of the bass notes to prevent sagging. ​On 16ft pipes, we solder a zinc sleeve on the inside of the body to strengthen it and guarantee that the pipe will never collapse. We also pay attention to alloys of tin – mainly copper – to help strengthen display pipes.

​ It is sometimes thought that the more tin there is in the alloy, the stronger the pipe will be, but this is not the case. An alloy containing 70 per cent tin is very weak, so careful consideration is taken at all times to the prevention of collapse.

The picture at the page top, by Nick Moore, is of the inside of a display pipe. Display pipes by Shires, above, on the Tickell organ in the Church of St Mary-le-Bow, London.

Terry with a newly made display pipe
A decorative organ pipe made by our craftsmen in Leeds.
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Above: Terry Shires with a diamond pattern display pipe. And, right, lips worthy of Marilyn Monroe.
A decorative organ pipe made by Shires in Leeds.
A variety of display pipes made by the team at Shires, Leeds.
View through a diamond pattern display organ pipe

Creating organ pipes that shine like diamonds

A decorative pipe is marked out on plain metal in the Shires Organ Pipe workshop in Leeds.
A decorative pipe is marked out on plain metal in the Shires Organ Pipe workshop in Leeds.
A member of our team carefully marks out and then scores the pattern on a display pipe, left and above, in our workshop. The finished pipe, in an intricate diamond design, the result of hours of precise, highly skilled work, may be seen below.

A decorative display pipe in plain metal in our workshop in Leeds.

A birthday jest for Guy

The display pipe on the right, with two eyes, a nose and a mouth, is known as a Jester and was made in our  workshop. It was commissioned for Guy Russell, right, the tonal director at Nicholsons Organs by his wife as a gift for his 65th birthday. Our team was delighted to be involved in this special project for a good friend.
A jester pipe made for Guy Russell by Shires Organ Pipes in Leeds.
Guy Russell, tonal director at Nicholsons Organs.

Contact us
Shires Organ Pipes Ltd
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Unit 7a -7c, Spence Mills, Mill Lane,
Bramley, 
Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS13 3HE.
Phone: 0113 219 0221
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​Registered No: 05601081.
Institute or Organ Builders' logo
Supplier member
We manufacture, repair and restore metal organ pipes to a high standard from our workshop in West Yorkshire, UK.
​Please contact us to see how our team can assist your organ building or restoration project, no matter how large or small.

TESTIMONIALS: Read what our customers have to say about us

© COPYRIGHT 2016. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
    • All our Yesterdays
    • Privacy
  • Services
    • How an organ pipe is made >
      • Tools of our trade
    • Flue pipes
    • Reed Pipes
    • Display pipes
    • Restoration and Repair
  • News
    • Archive of news stories
  • Gallery
  • Gifts
  • Testimonials
  • Contact