After encountering the quality of northern German pipe organs, particularly that of master builder Arp Schnitger, von Beckerath's interest shifted.
He trained as a cabinet maker at the art school in Hamburg, while studying the fundamentals of organ building on his own.
In the cellar of his parents' home, he built a small house-organ, which was heard in a radio broadcast from the house and in concerts there.
By the 1950s and 1960s, von Beckerath's own firm became one of the leaders of the Organ Reform Movement in North America and Northern Europe.
[9] One of the last organs manufactured by von Beckerath is located in the Baxter Theatre Centre of the University of Cape Town in South Africa, which was installed after his death.