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Boss Organ is mainly a one man operation, founded in 2005 by Tyler Drabick. The history of Boss Organ is really the story of Tyler:

Tyler grew up in New Hampshire, and at a very young age took a keen interest in learning how things worked. He was always taking things apart, learning what did what, and trying to fix stuff. This was largely in part due to his father - an engineer, mechanic, and all around very handy guy who ran his own business installing alternative energy systems.

 

Tyler's first entrepreneurial stint was when he was 7 thru 10 years old, he would take home all busted bicycles he could find at the dump, fix em up, and then sell them from the sidewalk in front of their house. Around that time, he started playing clarinet in the elementary school band, and fell in love with music. Soon other instruments followed - guitar, saxophone, bass clarinet, keyboards. He formed his first band at 13 and they would play frequently at the local open mic. As an 8th grade school project, Tyler built an electric guitar: a to-scale smaller version of the Fender Telecaster, which he named the Tylercaster. The bicycle business then graduated to cars... Tyler found a guy selling 5 old rusted out Volkswagens for cheap, and his dad loaned him the money and helped tow them home. His high school years were spent either in the driveway/garage fixing up and selling Volkswagens, or in the basement jam room playing music and performing anywhere possible.

Tyler went to Berklee College of Music and studied guitar performance. While at Berklee, he fell in love with the sound of the Hammond organ after being introduced to it by a couple of friends. He began playing guitar in the organ trio "Otis Grove" (check out the records!), touring and playing many gigs. Tyler graduated Berklee in 2003 and began collecting and working on Hammond organs in his girlfriends basement, taking them apart, reading the manuals, learning how they worked, repairing/modifying them, and studying audio electronics as well as woodworking. He built his first custom cabinet "chop" in that basement. After things didn't work out with that girlfriend, she told him to get all the organs out of the basement... and since Tyler's apartment was tiny at time, he had no place to put them. He ended up finding a small workshop space for rent in a warehouse in Somerville, and signed the lease and moved the organs into the space in 2005. That was the start of Boss Organ!

 

From there he continued studying audio electronics, and started selling his inventory of organs he had bought and fixed up. That lead to more work, repairing organs and other music gear, and the business was born. Since then Tyler has spent countless hours learning about and working on organs, amplifiers, electric pianos, and other gear. The shop has expanded from the one small room to a much larger workshop overflowing with vintage gear. Tube amplifiers have been one of his special points of interest, designing new amplifier circuits for both organ and guitar. In 2014 Berklee College of Music hired Tyler as an assistant professor, and he taught the course "Principles of Audio Electronics" for 8 semesters. Tyler's woodworking and carpentry skills were also honed by building his own post and beam home, framed entirely from lumber he felled and milled on his own property in NH.

 

Today, Tyler provides both on-site and in-shop service for countless churches, studios, venues, colleges, universities, individuals, and other establishments around New England. He builds custom organs, organ products, amplifiers, and other musical gear which gets shipped worldwide. He is continually learning, engineering, and developing new musical products and accessories.

 

And.... as well as running Boss Organ full time, Tyler continues to play music and regularly performs with multiple acts on both guitar and organ. Catch him with these bands: Otis Grove, Sly RichardWhiskey Geese, and From The Woods!

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