Rick Kelly Crafts Guitars From the ‘Bones of Old New York’

His one-of-a-kind, handmade electric guitars are literally built from the foundations of the city—and have been played by some of rock and roll's biggest stars.

Rick Kelly in his workshop at Carmine Street Guitars. Shenghua Sung

NEW YORK---In Greenwich Village, wedged between a custom flooring store and an Asian tapas restaurant, the red brick and glass facade of Carmine Street Guitars features a subtle neon guitar-shaped light in the window and Kelly in gold lettering on the bottom left corner of the glass. A tall potted plant snakes its way around a gold column behind the glass storefront.

To enter, you must push the door forcefully, as the sticker on the front door jovially suggests. Inside, three rows of vintage guitars line up on top of each other against the right side of the shop, and a display case of guitars and photographs occupies the left.