"I'm one of only a handful of harp-makers left in Britain and I'm based in south Shropshire"

Now living in south Shropshire, he originally trained as a boat builder in East Anglia, working in a number of boatyards in the Norfolk Broads and in New Zealand.

His first love, however, has always been traditional music and one instrument in particular won his heart at an early age – the Norfolk dulcimer.

“I loved the sound of the dulcimer, which is traditionally played in a number of parts of Britain, especially East Anglia. No one was making them, the people that were playing them were playing really old ones. 

“I found an old battered one in a junk shop and restored it, but it still didn’t sound very good so I decided to make one and I kept making them.

“I never did it for profit, I only did it for myself. I would make one or two, sell them, not for very much, to get the money to make another so I could keep improving,” explains Jon.

Having successfully applied his woodworking skills to making dulcimers in his spare time, it was a natural step to start creating harps.

“I was wondering whether I could make a living from making musical instruments. The problem with the dulcimer is that few people have even heard of it, let alone play it, so it’s not a good thing to make a living from.

“I needed another instrument and one of the other instruments that I have always loved the sound of is the harp. I used to listen to a lot of harp music while I was working.

“They take a long time to learn reasonably well – you have to learn to use all the fingers on both hands. The process of learning right from the beginning is very calming and very pleasant.

“It was a small market, but at the same time there were very few people making them. There’s probably only about four or five professional harp-makers left in Britain now,” adds Jon.

As well as seeing the potential to carve out a corner of the market, he also relished the creative opportunities the harp offered.

“Dulcimers are always the same shape, a triangle with the point cut off and there’s not much you can do with that. But with the harp, you can play about with the shape a bit. 

“It appealed to me as a boat builder because they are similar in a way because they are both partly artistic and partly very technical woodwork.

“They also have a lot of curves – I’ve always had an eye for a curve in woodwork,” explains Jon, who had also previously worked for a joiner and cabinet maker.

What came next was a lot of trial and error as he began making his own harps, seeking feedback from players as he went.

“I found a book from the 1970s which gave me the basic idea of what I needed to do but after that I was basically teaching myself and learning as I went,” says Jon.

He built his business gradually and started to sell more harps as his confidence and ability grew.

One of his first customers was the Earl of Powis, who he met during a wood fair held in the grounds of Powis Castle. “He was looking around the exhibits and ordered one of my harps. It was a really lovely one made out of walnut from the Powis Castle estate.

“It had the family motto in French carved into the top – that was done by woodcarver Ron Hester,” says Jon.

In 2001, he was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Craft Scholarship to develop his instrument-making at London Guildhall University

His harps are mainly inspired by “the strong yet graceful lines of Viking longships”.

“I’ve always loved Viking longships,” says Jon, who spends part of the year working on classic boat repair and restoration projects at a boatyard in western Argyll.

His Silver Spear range includes small lap or travel harps as well as 34 string clarsachs. 

Each harp can take three weeks to make and Jon tends to work on four at a time, which he finds to be the most efficient way of fulfilling commissions.

The frames of the harps are usually made from British and American hardwoods including cherry and walnut.

“They are both really lovely woods and have a very good sound,” says Jon, who also uses ash and sycamore.

The type of wood used will have an impact on the sound of the harp.

“Every harp will look different – even two made from the same plank of wood – and they will all have a slightly different sound. Different people will like different ones – it’s a matter of personal choice,” adds the grandfather of one. Jon is always happy to build an instrument to meet a customer’s specific requirements.

“A lot of people come to me having heard someone else playing one of my harps,” he says.

Over the years, Jon has brought his expertise to a number of projects, including helping to build the first authentic reproduction of the 4,500-year-old Golden Lyre from Ur, in what is now Iraq.

He also worked with students and archaeologists at a university in Cairo on reproductions of ancient Egyptian instruments. 

Making musical instruments continues to give Jon a lot of enjoyment. “There’s a huge satisfaction in making anything,” says Jon. “You start off with a bit of tree and you end up with an instrument you can play. It’s quite a magical moment when you hear it for the first time and know that you brought it into the world. It’s immensely satisfying.”

To find out more visit www.silverspearinstruments.co.uk