William Drake

William Drake (Baltimore, 2 October 1943) is an English organ builder specialising in the restoration of historic British instruments. He trained as an apprentice at the Rieger firm in Austria between 1963 and 1966, and then continued as a journeyman in Germany. He obtained his master organ builder's qualification in Stuttgart and, in 1974, founded his workshop in Buckfastleigh, Devon.

His output grows out of the study of English organs of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Among his restorations are those of Richard Seede's organ at Lulworth Castle (1986-1989), Joseph Walker's organ at St Olave's, Exeter, and the Lincoln organ, originally installed in the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and now in the Ballroom of Buckingham Palace.

In his new instruments he revives actions, stop nomenclature, temperaments and casework from their historical models, such as the two-manual organ for Abraham Jordan's case in Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair. He also incorporates resources for historically informed performance, such as alternative third and fifth ranks in the mixtures. He has published studies on these subjects in collaboration with Mark Lindley.