Jim
Twyne graduated from East Carolina University with a degree in church
music. In 1972, he moved to Charlotte and started to work with the
Zimmer family where he gained a wealth of knowledge in chest assembly,
wiring, pipe fitting, and other organ assembly procedures. He also spent
20 long years on the road doing seasonal maintenance and tuning. In
1975, he moved mainly into the tonal department of the business where he
was put in charge of voicing of pipes and tonal finishing on site. In
1995, he joined Cornel Zimmer Organ Builders as the tonal director.Since his joining the company, Jim has been a key player in managing the complicated process of organ building. As Cornel is on the road quite a bit, Jim holds down the fort at home. He is incredibly knowledgeable about all aspects of organ building and his guidance and advice is appreciated by all of us at the shop. He is responsible for shop voicing of new and used pipework and onsite tonal finishing of pipe and digital voices. He draws up specifications for new organs, assigning scaling information for new pipes on new organ projects as well as purchasing new pipes as needed. In addition, he chooses the digital voices for organs that make use of the newer technology available for organs today. As if he does not already have enough to do, Jim also assists in console layout and design as well as managing the assembly and testing process before the organ is loaded for delivery. You could call Jim the glue that holds the process together. Last but not least, he plays the organ beautifully as well.
In his spare time, Jim enjoys spending time with his wife, Melanie and son, Matthew as well as working at odd jobs around their beautiful home in Charlotte. They enjoy traveling together most recently were trips to Hawaii and Colorado. The whole family is active in the impressive music program of their church, First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte. Their contributions to the church include singing in the choir, ringing handbells, and accompanying the children's choir. When he can Jim plays as the substitute organist. Their handbell choir plays with the Charlotte Symphony as well as holiday concerts at the Greenbrier in Virginia.