Meet the Dealer: Armin Kelly

by Cyndy Burton

Originally published in American Lutherie #80, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015



I see your ads for Guitars International everywhere. Can you tell me how you got started dealing in classical guitars?

I made a very serious mistake! (laughs) From the time I was fifteen until I was thirty, I studied classical guitar very intensively with several very musical teachers. But at some point I realized I had to decide whether this was what I wanted to continue doing the rest of my life or not. I felt that I’d hit my peak as a player, and I wanted to explore other things. So I stopped playing — not an easy thing to do — and eventually sold my guitars. Playing classical guitar had been an all-consuming endeavor for me, and I couldn’t do it part time and remain happy. Instead, I returned to school and studied English literature and literary criticism at Columbia University and teacher methodology at Harvard University. Later I taught English for several years, both at university and high-school levels.