Pipe Organ Database

Note from the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991). —

Born June 23, 1929 in Hamburg, Germany; with Rother, von Beckerath, Kemper and Becker firms of Germany, 1947-1957; with Austin firm of Hartford, Connecticut, 1957-1958; with Pipe Organs Inc. of Los Angeles, California, 1958-1961; partner with Richard L. Abbott in Abbott & Sieker of Los Angeles, California, 1961; active 1996.

Sources:

• American Institute of Organbuilders (AIO): 1989 membership directory.
• Correspondence of David H. Fox.
• Uwe Pape, The Tracker Organ Revival in America, (Berlin: Pape Verlag, 1978) , 430.

For further information see Abbott & Sieker

Note from Organ Database Builders editor Stephen Hall, November 24, 2017. —

Pete Sieker was born in 1929 in Hamburg, Germany. In the decade following the second World War, he worked with several German firms: Rother, von Beckerath, Kemper and Becker (1947-1957). He moved to the United States in 1957, and began working with the Austin Organ Co. of Hartford, Connecticut, (1957-1958). The following year, he moved west and began with Pipe Organs Inc. of Los Angeles, Califonia (1958-1961). While working there, he met his future business partner, Richard L. Abbott. Together the two men established the firm Abbott & Sieker of Los Angeles, Califonia in 1961.

Over the next thirty-three years, the firm built over one hundred mechanical action organs, reviving the building of tracker action organs on America's west coast. Abbott & Sieker closed in 1994, Sieker retired, eventually settling in Texas.

Sources:

• David H. Fox,  A Guide to North American Organbuilders (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991, rev. ed. 1997), 266.
• Pete Sieker, "Abbott & Sieker" in The Organ: An Encyclopedia edited by Douglas Bush & Richard Kassel (New York: Psychology Press, 2006), 1-2.