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Gerrit Klop,
born in Amsterdam in 1935 to
a family of craftsmen, began
building his first organ at
the age of sixteen. After
receiving an engineering
degree, he returned to
instrument making and by
1966 had established himself
as an independent builder.
Gerrit Klop built only
historical style instruments
from the outset. Along with
Martin Skowroneck and Rainer
Schütze he was among the
European pioneers of period
instrument construction.
With increasing acceptance
and recognition, production
grew rapidly. To date, Klop
has delivered some two
thousand instruments,
including harpsichords,
spinets, clavichords, early
pianos and pipe organs.
While Klop produces keyboard
instruments representing
various historical styles,
in organ building he
specializes in designs with
wooden pipework, inspired by
the renaissance 'organo di
legno' tradition. With their
outstanding versatility and
practicality, these and
other keyboard instruments
by Klop have earned
universal acclaim for their
tonal design, craftmanship
and stability of tuning and
regulation. Gerrit plans to
delegate increasing
responsibility within the
business to his oldest son
Hank (1960), who, having
served as Gerrit's general
assistent and shop-foreman
for some years, is in an
ideal position to carry
forward the Klop tradition
of excellence.
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