Guitar maker builds instruments out of bones of New York

Record ID: 93303

  • Title: Guitar maker builds instruments out of bones of New York
  • Date: 22nd July 2016
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JULY 21, 2016) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WALL INSIDE KELLY'S STORE WITH PHOTOGRAPHS OF MUSICIANS HOLDING KELLY GUITARS
  • Embargoed: 6th August 2016 19:39
  • Keywords: Carmine Guitars Rick Kelly New York Bob Dylan Lou Reed
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / BEIJING, CHINA / SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN
  • City: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES / BEIJING, CHINA / SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, SPAIN
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Living/Lifestyle,Society/Social Issues
  • Reuters ID: LVA0074RRT1LL
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: One man's trash is another man's treasure, or with Rick Kelly, a guitar. For almost half a century the longtime New Yorker has made the instruments, but in the past decade he exclusively uses wood that he calls "the bones of old New York" - discarded lumber from New York City landmark buildings.
    In his West Village shop called "Carmine Street Guitars" he is sawing, routing and carving custom guitars from wood he scavenged from hotels, churches and bars.
    Kelly explained that he started doing this after film director Jim Jarmusch, who was a customer, offered wood from his loft ceiling back in 2006.
    "I got to know him a little bit and he offered me the wood. So I said: 'sure.' So he sent the guys, the workers over with a truck load of it, and started doing it that way. That was the first load I got, out of Jim's loft."
    Kelly soon learned that in the 19th century New York City was built out of white pine timber that came from virgin forests of the Adirondacks in upstate New York. This wood has been cured inside buildings for over 100 years, and he realized that it would be perfect for guitar-building.
    "It's sort of this alchemy that happens especially in the roof area where it gets over 100 degrees (Fahrenheit), at night and then cool, I mean hot during the day and cool at night. It goes through this change, that sort of makes the wood really resonant, because the resin in the wood crystallizes, opens up the pores for vibration," Kelly explained.
    Now, Kelly is hunting for wood all over the city and has amassed an impressive collection in his shop, with logs decorating a wall labeled with origin and date such as the "Chumley's 1826," a speakeasy bar that is undergoing extensive renovations.
    His latest finds are scorched lumber that he found in a dumpster after a Serbian Orthodox Cathedral burnt down earlier this year.
    Kelly's peculiar choice of material struck a chord with many customers, who request certain buildings when ordering their instruments. A popular combination he said is the so called "Chelsea-Chumley's", the base made out of white pine collected from Chumley's, and the neck crafted out of yellow pine from the iconic Chelsea hotel.
    He has many famous clients such as late Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, who specifically wanted a guitar made out of Chumley's wood.
    "In Bob Dylan's case, he used to hang out at Chumley's. It's that old speakeasy bar. And wondered if the wood had, that came from that place had any of the beer he had spilt on the floor," Kelly explained.
    Kelly said that musicians praised the warm sound of his instruments, with Bob Dylan often seen performing with his "eagle head" guitar. Lou Reed even had a new guitar on order when he passed away in 2013. Kelly describes this sound as the sound of New York.
    "What these timbers have seen, they were here when George Washington was walking around these trees," he said.
    "What they saw becoming a fancy hotel in the 1800's to a flophouse during the depression, and then a condo in the recent years. They just turned it into some fancy condo. They have gone through a lot of changes, all the buildings have, and what this wood sees is pretty amazing I am sure."
    Kelly's custom made guitars cost an average of $2,000 - $2,500 and are all made from reclaimed lumber.
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