Nami Hamada, a Master Organ Builder

Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Nami Hamada started her organ playing when she was 14. The music of J.S. Bach and the construction of pipe organs attracted her in pursuing her career in organ building. She continued her organ studies with Yuko Hayashi at Ferris University in Yokohama, Japan, and at New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA, where she was exposed and strongly attracted to Charles Fisk’s masterpiece, Op. 55, at Old West Church in Boston. She then began her organ building career at C.B. Fisk in Gloucester, MA, in 1999.During her apprenticeship, she has learned general organ building skills such as woodworking, metal work, keyboard making and key action constructions, pipe making, as well as flue voicing and reed voicing. She also worked with John Brombaugh on his last major instrument in Toyota-shi, Japan, in 2003, and with Bertrand Cattiaux in France as an exchange worker from 2011-12 to broaden her view and experience of organ building. In recent years she has been involved mostly in tonal finishing. She is currently on the board of directors at Old West Organ Society, and is also a part-time organist at Unitarian Universalist church of Greater Lynn, Swampscott, MA.