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Expanding on the seminal work of Lyndesay Langwill and others, William Waterhouse wrote in his 1993 New Index of Wind-Instrument Makers that someday his Index would be available as a searchable database. WIMdb.org now fulfills that dream and extends the resource to researchers, collectors, curators,  musicians, and all interested in historic wind instruments and their makers.

The WIMdb emerged as an online resource in January, 2025. It is and forever will be a work in progress, both in the completeness and accuracy of its content and in the capabilities of this web-based application. MIRCat hopes you will enjoy it all, and help us continue to refine the WIMdb in its continuing evolution. Write to us using the contact link at the bottom of this page.

Tips for Searching

• It is better to use short search strings, or even fragments of terms. It is easy then to find your target in the list of results. 
• Searching ignores capitalization.
• Use the search box in the top navigation bar for a quick maker search. There are often multiple ways to search other data. Explore both Basic and Advanced search methods.
• Don't be afraid to explore and try things. You can't break anything and failures are the best teacher.
• Please let us know what does not work as expected or what you wish could be changed about the website. 
• If your research requires a more complex type of search, let us know. We will try to help, and It might prompt future improvements in the design of the WIMdb.
• If you find WIM-db useful, consider clicking the donate button and give us encouragement to keep working. The WIM database is a project of the Musical Instrument Research Catalog (mircat.org).