History

So, who is Sigma Harps? David Kelly took over Kerikeri’s John Blount’s Harp Building and has now begun building harps under the name of Sigma Harps. Whilst David had been asked by John if he was interested in building harps, he was hesitant at committing. It wasn’t until David had an opportunity to run his fingers over the strings and play one of John’s harps did the light turn on. David was hooked from that moment! John decided it was time for him to move on but needed to ensure the knowledge and skills of harp building he had developed and learned over many years was not lost. John’s harps were known to have excellent sound characteristics, being reliable and robust. Able to stand up to the conditions many students harps encounter. David’s music background was learning the piano when about eight years old with his music teacher, one year on, giving up on him. But thankfully his teacher taught him the fundamentals of left hand cords before they parted company. A skill that in later years allowed him to return to the piano. School recorder lessons were compulsory in his school and being able to follow a melody line was simple. No piano left hand required! Soon his attention turned to the cornet. Under the guidance of a Mr Francis he developed a real love for the instrument. Playing cornet and trumpet solos with a Mr Parker on Piano at many church venues. And of course, every young teenage boy needed a guitar and folk guitar tuition under a Mr Spackman was added.
And today he is starting on the Harp journey.
The first harp he built was MusicMakers Studio 29 string. The sound characteristics are simply amazing. Something quite unusual for a 29-string harp. What is his secret?The second harp was also a 29-string Studio with the same sound characteristics.
So this harp building journey has now really started with a 36 string Sligo Raven stave back harp nearing completion.