Gregory Bover  (GRBover@aol.com)
-------------
 
I am an organ builder at C.B. Fisk, Incorporated, where I've worked for the
last 17 years after spending 3 years with Bill Dowd, the harpsichord maker,
in both his Cambridge and Paris shops.  I feel fortunate to have spent 5
years with Charles Fisk before he died, and still think I work in the most
interesting shop on the planet.  A few years back I took a leave of absence
and went to work at Fuehrer Orgelbau in Wilhelmshaven.  During my time there
I helped to restore two 18th century organs, the Christian Vater in Bockhorn
and the Johann Schrieber in Loxstedt.  Both gave me experiences I've been
able to draw on many times since. I was also able to spend a great deal of
time examining instruments in Germany, Holland, France, and Italy.
 
My job in Gloucester is project manager, at which I alternate with Mark
Nelson. This means that on every other organ I do the bulk of the mechanical
and structural design and drawing, figure out who does what and when, take
care of the clients, and put in my two cents worth on visual design as well.
As project manager, I also lead the "away team" to the site and am
responsible for all mechanical aspects of the installation.
 
I'm not an organist,  although most people at Fisk are, I leave that to my
wife, Frances Conover Fitch, who teaches at the Longy School in Cambridge
and is Music Director at Trinity Church in Topsfield, Mass.  Questions of
voicing and scaling are handled by my more musical colleagues.  On the
organs when Mark takes his turn, I get to go back out to the shop and build
things for a while before starting the design work on the next one. A fine
arrangement.
 
I have worked on every Fisk organ since House of Hope (#78), including the
two 19th century French organs we have restored.  I was project manager on
our Opus #100 at the Meyerson Symphony Center and will soon be working on
the new organ for Rice University and then another large instrument for a
concert hall in Yokohama.
 
Although I've used AUTOCAD for years, I am new to most other aspects of
computers.  I get to the piporg-l listserver through AOL and am interested
to learn more about the internet.  I have a nine-year-old son of whom I am
very proud, and when not spending time with him I follow my interests in
cooking, history, (especially the history of science), language, and pen and
ink drawing.