If you are looking to step into a timeless shop built from a combination of ingenuity, family tradition and honest-to-goodness craft, then you must visit William Del Pilar, Jr.’s cozy storefront in the heart of the Atlantic Avenue shopping district. William himself will greet you and talk as long as you like about the guitars and other instruments he learned to make at the knee of his father, William Sr., who started the shop when he arrived from Quebradillas, Puerto Rico way back in the early 1940s.

In addition to giving guitar lessons, William Jr. carries on the woodworking tradition of his father by handcrafting instruments of incredible sound and beauty, including not only the guitar but the baritone ukelele, the Cuban tres, and the charango, a South American instrument traditionally made from the shell of an armadillo. William is a true artist and takes orders for his handmade instruments-only as many as he can fill himself. Beauty like this could not possibly come from a factory.