John Brombaugh
Encyclopedia
John Brombaugh is an American master pipe organ
builder, known for his historically-oriented tracker action
instruments, some of which are capable of playing at different historical pitches
.
, Ohio
, Brombaugh has degrees in Electrical Engineering
from the University of Cincinnati
(EE, 1960) and Cornell University
(MS-EE, 1963) specializing in the field of acoustics
, in particular musical acoustics
.
He then worked as an apprentice
under the two leading American tracker action
organ
builders, Fritz Noack
(1964–1966) and Charles Fisk
(1966–1967) and then served as a journeyman
(Geselle) with the Rudolph von Beckerath firm in Hamburg
in (1967–68) to complete his training, especially in making reed pipe
s. While in Hamburg, Brombaugh used the opportunity for intense study of the many historic organs in the northwest of Germany and adjacent Netherlands
.
In June 1968, he established his own firm, John Brombaugh & Co., in the farmlands west of Germantown
, Ohio
, his home town. In 1977, Brombaugh moved his firm to Eugene
, Oregon
under the new name, John Brombaugh & Associates, Inc. that continued until completing its final instrument in summer 2005. He built 66 organs that are located in 23 states, Canada
, Sweden
and Japan
and was a teacher to many upcoming younger builders. His development was helped by a grant from the Ford Foundation in Spring 1971 which enabled him to do intense study of about 100 historic organs in Germany, the Netherlands, France
, Switzerland
, Austria
and Italy
. He has continued his studies at every possible time since.
." This lets them play music composed in any key
but, compared with Equal Temperament
, favors the central keys used in most organ literature
of all periods. Since its introduction in 1978, the "Bach" temperament by Herbert Anton Kellner has become Brombaugh's standard tuning, though several of his organs are tuned in 1/4 Syntonic comma
Meantone where their primary intention is for historically oriented performance of the organ literature older than that of Johann Sebastian Bach
's. Many of his easily movable small positives have transposition
capabilities to facilitate their playability at different pitches
; these (excepting his Op. 2 that was made during his apprenticeship with Noack) are his only instruments tuned in Equal Temperament.
Although he has been interested to recover and use many of the lost concepts from the ancient organ-builders (e.g., they only use mechanical key action), he also considers himself a builder of this time who is amenable to the use of the best current construction methods and the use of ideas necessary for the convenience required by organists of our time. For example, his Opus 35 - an organ of 3,250 pipes, 3 manuals
and pedal with 46 stops
that was dedicated on Pentecost
2001 at the First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois
(of which congregation Abraham Lincoln
and his family attended, and Mary Todd Lincoln was a member) - is a synthesis of historical and modern techniques.
Among John Brombaugh's contributions to modern organ-building are:
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
builder, known for his historically-oriented tracker action
Tracker action
Tracker action is a term used in reference to pipe organs and steam calliopes to indicate a mechanical linkage between keys or pedals pressed by the organist and the valve that allows air to flow into pipe of the corresponding note...
instruments, some of which are capable of playing at different historical pitches
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
.
Personal life and early training
Born in DaytonDayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Brombaugh has degrees in Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
from the University of Cincinnati
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati is a comprehensive public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a part of the University System of Ohio....
(EE, 1960) and Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
(MS-EE, 1963) specializing in the field of acoustics
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
, in particular musical acoustics
Musical acoustics
Musical acoustics or music acoustics is the branch of acoustics concerned with researching and describing the physics of music – how sounds employed as music work...
.
He then worked as an apprentice
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
under the two leading American tracker action
Tracker action
Tracker action is a term used in reference to pipe organs and steam calliopes to indicate a mechanical linkage between keys or pedals pressed by the organist and the valve that allows air to flow into pipe of the corresponding note...
organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
builders, Fritz Noack
Noack Organ Company
The Noack Organ Company is a pipe organ manufacturer based out of Georgetown, Massachusetts.Fritz Noack began the company in 1960 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Prior to that he had worked with a number of organ builders in Europe and the United States...
(1964–1966) and Charles Fisk
C.B. Fisk
C.B. Fisk, Inc. is a company that designs and builds mechanical action pipe organs located in Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA. It was founded in 1961 by Charles Brenton Fisk the first American organbuilder to build significant tracker organs in the 20th century...
(1966–1967) and then served as a journeyman
Journeyman
A journeyman is someone who completed an apprenticeship and was fully educated in a trade or craft, but not yet a master. To become a master, a journeyman had to submit a master work piece to a guild for evaluation and be admitted to the guild as a master....
(Geselle) with the Rudolph von Beckerath firm in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
in (1967–68) to complete his training, especially in making reed pipe
Reed pipe
A reed pipe is an organ pipe that is sounded by a vibrating brass strip known as a reed. Air under pressure is directed towards the reed, which vibrates at a specific pitch. This is in contrast to flue pipes, which contain no moving parts and produce sound solely through the vibration of air...
s. While in Hamburg, Brombaugh used the opportunity for intense study of the many historic organs in the northwest of Germany and adjacent Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
In June 1968, he established his own firm, John Brombaugh & Co., in the farmlands west of Germantown
Germantown, Ohio
Germantown is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. The population was 5,547 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Germantown is located at ....
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, his home town. In 1977, Brombaugh moved his firm to Eugene
Eugene, Oregon
Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
under the new name, John Brombaugh & Associates, Inc. that continued until completing its final instrument in summer 2005. He built 66 organs that are located in 23 states, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and was a teacher to many upcoming younger builders. His development was helped by a grant from the Ford Foundation in Spring 1971 which enabled him to do intense study of about 100 historic organs in Germany, the Netherlands, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. He has continued his studies at every possible time since.
Organ building style
The majority of Brombaugh organs are tuned in a "Well temperamentWell temperament
Well temperament is a type of tempered tuning described in 20th-century music theory. The term is modelled on the German word wohltemperiert which appears in the title of J.S. Bach's famous composition, The Well-Tempered Clavier...
." This lets them play music composed in any key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
but, compared with Equal Temperament
Equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
, favors the central keys used in most organ literature
Organ repertoire
The organ repertoire consists of music written for the organ. Because it is one of the oldest musical instruments in existence, written organ repertoire spans a time period almost as long as that of written music itself. The organ's solo repertoire is among the largest for any musical instrument...
of all periods. Since its introduction in 1978, the "Bach" temperament by Herbert Anton Kellner has become Brombaugh's standard tuning, though several of his organs are tuned in 1/4 Syntonic comma
Syntonic comma
In music theory, the syntonic comma, also known as the chromatic diesis, the comma of Didymus, the Ptolemaic comma, or the diatonic comma is a small comma type interval between two musical notes, equal to the frequency ratio 81:80, or around 21.51 cents...
Meantone where their primary intention is for historically oriented performance of the organ literature older than that of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's. Many of his easily movable small positives have transposition
Transposition (music)
In music transposition refers to the process, or operation, of moving a collection of notes up or down in pitch by a constant interval.For example, one might transpose an entire piece of music into another key...
capabilities to facilitate their playability at different pitches
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
; these (excepting his Op. 2 that was made during his apprenticeship with Noack) are his only instruments tuned in Equal Temperament.
Although he has been interested to recover and use many of the lost concepts from the ancient organ-builders (e.g., they only use mechanical key action), he also considers himself a builder of this time who is amenable to the use of the best current construction methods and the use of ideas necessary for the convenience required by organists of our time. For example, his Opus 35 - an organ of 3,250 pipes, 3 manuals
Manual (music)
A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...
and pedal with 46 stops
Organ stop
An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; some can be "on" , while others can be "off" .The term can also refer...
that was dedicated on Pentecost
Pentecost
Pentecost is a prominent feast in the calendar of Ancient Israel celebrating the giving of the Law on Sinai, and also later in the Christian liturgical year commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection of Jesus...
2001 at the First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
(of which congregation Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
and his family attended, and Mary Todd Lincoln was a member) - is a synthesis of historical and modern techniques.
Among John Brombaugh's contributions to modern organ-building are:
- the first use in modern times of an unequal temperamentMusical tuningIn music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...
for tuning a large pipe organ in North America - on his Op. 4 at First Lutheran Church, Lorain, OhioLorain, OhioLorain is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black River, about 30 miles west of Cleveland....
that was dedicated by David Boe in June 1970. The temperament used was Andreas WerckmeisterAndreas WerckmeisterAndreas Werckmeister was an organist, music theorist, and composer of the Baroque era.-Life:Born in Benneckenstein, Germany, Werckmeister attended schools in Nordhausen and Quedlinburg. He received his musical training from his uncles Heinrich Christian Werckmeister and Heinrich Victor Werckmeister...
's IIIrd temperamentWerckmeister temperamentWerckmeister temperaments are the tuning systems described by Andreas Werckmeister in his writings . The tuning systems are confusingly numbered in two different ways: the first refers to the order in which they were presented as "good temperaments" in Werckmeister's 1691 treatise, the second to...
, Werckmeister's first inventive departure from the ancient PythagoreanPythagorean tuningPythagorean tuning is a system of musical tuning in which the frequency relationships of all intervals are based on the ratio 3:2. This interval is chosen because it is one of the most consonant...
or MeantoneMeantone temperamentMeantone temperament is a musical temperament, which is a system of musical tuning. In general, a meantone is constructed the same way as Pythagorean tuning, as a stack of perfect fifths, but in meantone, each fifth is narrow compared to the ratio 27/12:1 in 12 equal temperament, the opposite of...
tunings. This temperament has since been used on many new organs worldwide. - general absence of plywood in the construction of his instruments, especially in the casework and by the earliest return in 20th century organ-building (beginning in 1968) to using only solid wood for the windchest tableboardsPipe organThe pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
. - consistent use of fine architectural concepts and details for his case designs, for example, those described by the renowned RenaissanceRenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
artisan, Andrea PalladioAndrea PalladioAndrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...
and those found in instruments made by the late GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
builders. He has also been interested to develop designs with suitable modern styles where appropriate, not just to work only making historically governed copies. - the first use of hammered pipe metal in modern times in the United States, also done for his Op. 4 for Lorain, Ohio.
- beginning in 1970 with his Op. 4 for Lorain, Ohio, consistent use of "wedge bellows" in all of his work to provide a slightly unstable winding that gives the organ a more musical character or "life." A few of Brombaugh's instruments have the mechanism needed so the organ's wind could be produced by foot pumping its bellows - the norm before electricity (or other energy sources) could take over this rather boring job.
- beginning in 1970, development and use of an electronic "tuning machine" having a CRTCathode ray tubeThe cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
display that can be set for any temperament and a reference pitch variable over a 4:5 ratio; the device provides an accuracy of 1/5 centCent (music)The cent is a logarithmic unit of measure used for musical intervals. Twelve-tone equal temperament divides the octave into 12 semitones of 100 cents each...
or 0.1 HzHertzThe hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....
and also has a filter settable to observe the various harmonics individually so all pipes of compound stopsOrgan stopAn organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; some can be "on" , while others can be "off" .The term can also refer...
(such as the MixturesMixture (music)A mixture is an organ stop, usually of principal tone quality, that contains multiple ranks of pipes. It is designed to be drawn with a combination of stops that forms a complete chorus . The mixture sounds the upper harmonics of each note of the keyboard...
and CornetsCornet (disambiguation)- Music :*Cornet, a brass instrument that closely resembles the trumpet*A cornett or cornetto, a Renaissance instrument made entirely from wood, with woodwind-style holes,...
) may be very accurately tunedMusical tuningIn music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...
. - the first use worldwide of the high lead content pipe metal alloy such as was found in the work of Hendrik NiehoffHendrik NiehoffHendrik Niehoff was a Dutch pipe organ builder, who learned with noted builder, Jan van Covelen . According to Liuwe Tamminga, Niehoff was born in Leeuwarden, the capital of Province Friesland...
in 16th century northwestern Europe for his Op. 19 at Central Lutheran Church in Eugene, OregonEugene, OregonEugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...
. - among the first uses of Meantone tuning in a major new organ in the United States, (along with Charles Fisk's organ at Houghton Memorial Chapel, Wellesley College and Gene Bedient's organ at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL) for his Op. 24 organ for Fairchild Chapel at Oberlin CollegeOberlin CollegeOberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
that was dedicated in September 1981 by Harald VogelHarald VogelHarald Vogel is a German organist, organologist, and author. He is a leading expert on Renaissance and Baroque keyboard music. He has been professor of organ at the University of the Arts Bremen since 1994.-Books & articles:...
. Meantone organs in North AmericaMeantone organs in North AmericaPipe organs that are tuned in meantone temperament are very rare in North America. They are listed here, by type of temperament and sorted by date of construction. North America is defined here as Canada, the United States of America and Mexico. All instruments listed are playable but unplayable...
remain very rare. - the general use of "vocale" voicing of the pipes to achieve the tonal beauty so common to the organs in and prior to Bach's lifetime.
- first installation into Continental Europe since the 1930s of a new pipe organ built in the United States - the Meantone organ for the Hagakyrkan in GöteborgGothenburgGothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden, dedicated by Harald Vogel on March 8, 1992. - first use of the Ruckpositive in a major concert hall organ - by using two Ruckpositive divisions to the left and right so the organist is not hidden from view of the audience in the Toyota City, Japan, Op. 37 instrument inaugurated by Harald Vogel on November 11, 2003.
Awards
- Oregon Governor's Arts Award (1996)
- University of Oregon's Distinguished Service Award (2006)
Brombaugh Organs of Note
| Location | City | Opus | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trinity Lutheran Church | Ithaca, New York, USA | 2 | 1966 |
| First Lutheran Church | Lorain, Ohio, USA | 4 | 1970 |
| Ashland Avenue Baptist Church (on loan to St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Rochester, NY until later new installation at California State Univ, Sonoma) |
Toledo, Ohio, USA | 9 | 1972 |
| First Methodist Church | Oberlin, Ohio, USA | 15 | 1974 |
| Grace Episcopal Church | Ellensburg, Washington, USA | 16 | 1974 |
| Central Lutheran Church | Eugene, Oregon, USA | 19 | 1976 |
| St. John's Presbyterian Church | Berkeley, California, USA | 20 | 1979 |
| Christ Episcopal Church | Tacoma, Washington, USA | 22 | 1980 |
| St. Paul's Lutheran Church | Durham, North Carolina, USA | 23d | 1977 |
| Fairchild Chapel, Oberlin College | Oberlin, Ohio, USA | 25 | 1981 |
| Southern Adventist University | Collegedale, Tennessee, USA | 26 | 1986 |
| Hagakyrkan | Göteborg, Sweden | 28 | 1992 |
| Iowa State University, Music School Recital Hall | Ames, Iowa, USA | 29 | 1987 |
| Pilgrim Lutheran Church | Beaverton, Oregon, USA | 30 | 1987 |
| St. Barnabas Anglican Church | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada | 31f | 1988 |
| Christ Church, Christiana Hundred, Episcopal | Wilmington, Delaware, USA | 32 | 1990 |
| Lawrence University Memorial Chapel | Appleton, Wisconsin, USA | 33 | 1995 |
| Duke University Memorial Chapel | Durham, North Carolina, USA | 34 | 1997 |
| First Presbyterian Church | Springfield, Illinois, USA | 35 | 2001 |
| Toyota City Concert Hall | Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan | 37 | 2002 |
External links
- John Brombaugh & Associates
- "Pipe Organ Builder - John Brombaugh" - Synopsis of an article from The Lutheran (June 1998)
- Notes from the Builder about the organ of the Central Lutheran Church in Eugene, Oregon
- The Historical Organbuilders, by Jonathan Ambrosino - includes section on Brombaugh's work
- Describing Harald Vogel, with some information on John Brombaugh
- "Bach" temperament of Herbert Anton Kellner