The Shop

Our location

Our workshop is situated along the Lachine Canal, near Montreal’s Old Port. Once the industrial centre of Canada, the Lachine Canal became obsolete with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959. The canal and its embankments were recently designated as a national historic site by Parks Canada. Juget-Sinclair Organ Builders is a team of 11 artisans specialized in the construction and restoration of mechanical-action organs. Since the very beginning of the company, the decision to design and build our instruments ourselves from A to Z has been the core philosophy that guides our approach. Thus, we have a limited production of a highly customized product. To date, Juget-Sinclair organs can be found in Canada, the United States of America, France, Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong.

The origin

Denis Juget, founded the company in 1994. In his youth, Juget sang in a parish choir and began taking organ lessons. It is therefore via music that he, like all members of our team, eventually found himself in this craft. After training as a cabinetmaker, Juget began his apprenticeship in organ-building in France. He later moved to Montreal in 1985 and began to work for the Canadian organ builder, Hellmuth Wolff. Following that, Juget went on work exchanges to Austria, Spain, Germany, and Switzerland before returning to Canada.

The first years

After a small-scale start in Saint-Basile-Le-Grand, on the south shore of Montreal, Stephen Sinclair became an associate in 1998 and the company was re-formed as “Juget-Sinclair facteurs d’orgues inc.” At this point, the shop was moved to the island of Montreal. In 1984, Sinclair had begun his studies in science at McGill University, but soon after, his passion for music and his natural curiosity steered him towards the workshop of Hellmuth Wolff. He apprenticed with Wolff and worked there from 1989 to 1998. During this time, Sinclair went on two exchanges: one in France, and the other in England. At this stage, the company was a team of 6 craftsmen and started to export organs internationally.

A new team member

In 2002, Robin Côté joined the team. A Montreal native, Côté began his musical training very early as a chorister of the Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal at the Oratory of St. Joseph where he also began organ lessons. Fascinated by the art of organ-building, he joined Juget-Sinclair where he received a full apprenticeship. Côté then did an exchange to France to further his understanding of organs of the 19th century, to hone his skills in the construction of tin façade pipes, and to learn tonal design of French symphonic organs.

Continuing growth

Beginning in 2012, a vision to help the company continue to grow and last well into the future was developed: the decision was made to integrate a third partner. Robin Côté thus joined the direction of the company at 33%. It was at this point that Juget-Sinclair took on its first large 3-manual, 16-foot organ. From 2013 to 2018, Denis Juget, still wishing to remain active in the core of the company, began transferring his responsibilities as president little by little. At the beginning of 2019, Juget finished passing on the torch to Côté and Sinclair.

A global vision

An extremely versatile craftsman, Côté possesses a mastery and global vision of the organ: from the design, to the production, to the tonal finishing. As a musician, his skills as an organist are highly valued for the presentation of new instruments. Throughout numerous study trips, Côté has been granted special access to the interiors of several significant instruments in France, Germany, Sweden, the United States, and Latvia.

The future

The company invest in new machinery of the highest quality, the training of new apprentices to take on large projects-to-come with confidence.