Triumphs & Trials of an Organ Builder
Building a Viable Company (continued)
Another philosophy became firmly implanted during
these formative years in the history of the Company.
Top priority was given to the quality of the sound.
There are many opportunities to cut corners in
designing an organ. Often, the resulting deficiencies
are not readily apparent to the listener. Many times-
as I had discovered early on in my organ venture-
even organists and good listeners may not immediately
"pick up" these deficiencies. However, I believe that,
after people live with an organ for a time, many of the
listeners and certainly the organists will become aware
of such deficiencies and the organ will gradually fall out
of favor. This scenario is what I wanted to avoid. I
knew that customers would be "living" with the Allen
organs they bought for many years; to stay in their good
favor for the long haul was vital. My motive was not
entirely altruistic. I intended to remain in business
indefinitely. If an Allen organ was ever traded in, I
wanted to be sure it would be traded in on a new Allen.
Also, I knew that new organs are often sold upon the
recommendation of current owners; therefore, I wanted
to make sure that the owners of Allen organs would
recommend Allen Organ Company to other prospective
customers.
I can't say that these "policies" and "philosophies"
were part of some carefully designed "grand plan" for
success. They just "felt" right to me. In retrospect, I
must say that ideals such as craftsmanship, quality,
loyalty, honesty, and permanent values were very much
a part of the predominantly Pennsylvania German
culture of the Allentown area. Undoubtedly, I was
influenced by a long exposure to this culture and the
people who lived by its ideals. Happily, many of these
people joined Allen Organ Company and helped
establish our reputation for excellence.
Of course, just "wanting" to be excellent was not
enough to make it so. I learned that running a company
is like paddling a canoe upstream-it takes a lot of
effort just to stay where you already are. There were
always bills to be paid, new customers to be found,
proper equipment to be bought and kept in repair, and
adequate factory space to be obtained. We had gotten
upstream "a ways," but I sensed we could quickly be
swept back if we were the least bit complacent. During
these formative years, the Company was a partially
successful enterprise-successful in that sales were
increasing each year but hardly profitable. In fact, during
this period I had to, once again, solicit financial support
from outside the Company. Luckily, several local
individuals were willing to invest in a still fledgling yet
promising Company.
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