Syracuse : Music : Kerner & Merchant Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd.
Kerner & Merchant people are highly trained in both music and keyboard instruments. The company was founded in Syracuse, New York, in 1978 by Benjamin Merchant, a musician educated in music history, voice, and keyboard theory and design, who apprenticed with harpsichord builder Walter Burr and organ builder Leonard Carlson, and by Robert Kerner, keyboard instrument curator at the Eastman School of Music.Mr. Merchant, who has taken professional examinations through the American Institute of Organ builders and achieved the status of Colleague with that organization, continues to run the company today with the assistance of co-owners William Kerner and A. Hawley Arnold, both professional musicians and craftsmen.
