Hello Paul
here is my letter to Andrew
Dear Andrew
I am writing to you to express my thanks on building this superb quality instrument.
I first gigged with the guitar at the Cardiff point ,and I have used it at every show since. I have bought guitars before yours, and it takes time before it gets used for shows.
I am impressed by how well the guitar stays in tune and how good the intonation is, not forgetting the great sustain.
Please pass on my thanks to the rest of your team
Tim Read
Limehouse Lizzy ( U.K. )
Hi Paul heres my review.
Being an up and coming pro guitarist I needed a guitar that would make me stand out from the crowd and my Atlas has certainly done this. I not only have a guitar that sounds incredible, looks stunning and plays exceptionally well but it is very easy to fall in love with it.
I have many guitars by all of the major manufacturers in the business and the Atlas stands head and shoulders above the rest. The service I got from Paul and the Atlas team was amazing and I was informed at every step of the production what was happening. They were very helpful in the initial designing stages and despite them never having produced a 24 fret Luxurious model before (now a standard model) they redesigned their already great model to fit my demands. I had many specific things that I wanted on the guitar and nothing seemed too much trouble for them.
The quality of the wood is amazing, the quilt maple on the front is so defined and there is so much detail. The rosewood fret board and the flame maple neck are so smooth. Usually I am a firm believer that a guitar has to be played in for many hours before the neck and fret board become perfect but this arrived as good as it could be. The binding around the edge of the guitar is perfect and looks so classy.
As a result of this high quality service and an incredible final product I will continue to get my guitars from Atlas and I can not recommend them highly enough.
Cheers
Phil ( U.K. )
My customer, and his friends, were very impressed with the beautiful finish and playability of his Star Sapphire guitar. My staff and I were also amazed at the quality of your guitars and the terrific sound. In fact I was so impressed, I have ordered a custom model for my personal use.
I recommend Atlas guitars to anyone looking for custom USA quality and sound at an affordable price.
Ken Richards, executive partner,
Good Vibrations Music Services
Nelson, New Zealand
To whom it may concern i have had 4 guitars built by atlas guitars the quality is second to none the finish is impecable,frett work is A grade action and playibilty is brilliant, timbers are of AAAA premium grade throughout, pick ups and hardware are the best available. i have owned a group of music stores in australia for over twenty years and have sold many hundreds of guitars of every make and i can tell you atlas guitars compare to guitars 3 times the price.
regards
Matthew
Arties Music
Australia
I proudly own two custom, hand-made (one-off) Atlas jazz-style guitars made by Mr. Rintr. In 40 some years of being around the fretted musical instrument business world-wide and many luthiers, I can without hesitation attest to the absolute craftsmanship, gracefulness, artistry and genius of Mr. Rintr's. work. I love the guitars that he build for me. When playing one my "eye-catching " Atlas guitars, I can feel the serious, inbreed life, rhythm and fluidity that comes with the perfection that Mr. Rintr. applies in crafting his custom instruments. A day does not go by when I look forward to playing one or both of his guitars.
Many of my friends who have seen/played my Atlas guitars stand in complete awe of his work. When Mr. Rintr takes on an assignment to build a guitar, one can be assured that in the end product, there will be the utmost quality in construction, intonation, playability and beauty. This is the magic and adventurous spirit of his workbench, templates and jigs. Whether it be the precise and dedicated attention given to the overall design attributes, the woodwork, the bracing, the fretwork, the in-laying materials, or the electronics ... nothing is left to chance. It all adds up to perfection! In my opinion, Mr. Rintr is Thailand's premier purveyor of hand-made guitars and on the world-wide stage, clearly he is one of the finest guitar-making craftspeople that I have ever met. . I will soon approach Mr. Rintr to ask him to build me another guitar as collecting quality guitars in my hobby.
Bryan Fitzpatrick
Canada
I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for building me one of the most incredible guitars I have ever played! When I ordered my guitar from your company, I was a bit concerned at how the quality, fit, finish and playability would turn out once the guitar was completed. Let me just say, your guitars are superior in every category!
I have been playing guitar for more than 40 years. In addition to the guitar you made for me, I also own a Gibson ES-335, an Ibanez Pat Metheny Model, several Stratocasters (Fender, G&L), a Gretsch G400 and a PRS. I can say without hesitation that my Atlas guitar is equal to or in many cases better than the other guitars I currently own!
The ability to have a guitar custom handmade to my specifications is awesome! I look forward to ordering more guitars from your company in the near future.
All the best,
Roy A. Robertson
President/CEO
Pacific BioSound Division
Pacific Biosystems Corporation, Limited
1401 Marvin Road NE
Suite 307-245
Lacey, WA 98516, USA.
Tel: 360 455 4554
Fax: 360 455 4597
E-mail: PacificBioSound@aol.com
The guitar is everything I wanted it to be, it not only looks great but it even plays and
sounds even better.
the process of ordering this guitar was a joy with regular updates of the process
and every chance during the process to finetune the guitar to my exact wishes
with an end result which exceeds my wildest dreams
The biggest surprise of this guitar are the pickups, if you read the description on the
website you will get a general idea of the sound of the various pickups, but like most
of the guitarlovers I always take these descriptions with a grain of salt , well not with
these pickups, they really have this complex sound which makes every note sing
and which enables you to create these wonderfull overtones just by moving your fretting
hand over the strings.
The finish and fretwork of this guitar is just perfect with absolutely no flaws and
having already quite a big guitarcollection which includes the big namesof the guitarindustry
this is not something you regularly see at guitars which cost at least 3 times what I paid for my Luxurious LB
Bottomline; this is a great guitar at a really great price and still would have been great
value at double or even tripple it's price
kind regards
Alfredo Dons
The Netherlands
I am enjoying playing my Atlas Telstar. I hope your plans are developing well with the Atlas brand. I do wish you good luck with this as they are clearly excellent products at a very attractive price. I am very pleased with the warmth of tone, which is why I bought this guitar (as well as the lovely feel and looks). It is a rich tone, less shrill or raspy than an American Fender, yet still sounds like a Strat.
Best wishes
Richard.
To those interested in Atlas guitars ,
I have just recently received my custom guitar , and i must say that i too
was anxious about the quality and playability of a brand that i had never
played . I have played and owned many of the popular brand name guitars
commonly on the market . I can assure you that the moment i opened the case
to my Custom Atlas Guitar i knew this was going to be hard to beat in terms
of finish and its impecable quality. When it comes to the sound and
playability , this guitar sounds just as good as it looks . The pickups are
red hot but without the feedback and background noise of other hot pickups.
On clean tone the guitar can be a rock / jazz / blues beast with an
unbelievable clarity. The intonation is perfect ( and i would know because i
checked with a tuner on each fret ) . The sustain is lengthy and rich , and
the ability to have all the features to your specs is a great feeling . To
know your getting the exact guitar your after is very exciting and
furfilling. Its a great feeling when that courier knocks on your door . I
highly reccomend Atlas Guitars , and hope you give these guys a chance to
build you another masterpiece, they are friendly and make it their mission
to deliver exactly what you want down to the colour of the ring around the
toggle switch ,
Sincerly
Matt Nolan
Young , NSW , Australia
malmaninga@hotmail.com
I received my first (and hopefully not last) Atlas guitar a few days before Christmas, so that was a nice surprise for me. Right out of the box the guitar looked amazing. It looks just the way I wanted it to when I ordered the guitar. The finish and fretwork on this guitar are just perfect, absolutely no flaws whatsoever. After plugging this guitar in and playing some chords, my initial reaction was just wow. Initially I wanted different pickups in the guitar, but by suggestion from Andrew I went with the hotter Progressive Rock set. For the style of music I play with this guitar (classic rock), these pickups are just great.
As for the ordering process: I received regular updates, every question I had was answered within 1-2 days, and last but not least, the guitar was built in just 4 weeks.
Concluding: this guitar is great value for money, and if my bank account allows this wont be my last Atlas Custom guitar.
Regards,
Joeri Spijkers
The Netherlands
This is the first Atlas guitar I have owned, but the highest testimonial I can give has to be that I have now ordered another one.
I have spent over 30 years playing various different guitars and in different styles, but for the past 15 years business pressures and travelling prevented many playing opportunities. When I found more time, I started to look around for a quality guitar to start playing again - blues, rock, classical - in fact almost anything.
I came across the Atlas reviews at Harmony Central and, since I live in Bangkok, I called them and visited the shop to see what they had. We were received like old friends and made very welcome by K Andrew and K Rintr. I had the chance to try out several different styles and models and finally K Rintr produced this one. Put simply, I stopped looking at the others.
This guitar is just beautiful and suits my requirements exactly. The build quality is perfect, with attention to details like the Australian abalone inlays set in the ebony fretboard.
The hardware is high quality, using Atlas own tremolo bridge. I am not a big fan of tremolo bridges as there are often tuning issues with them, but in the case the tuning is rock solid whatever you do.
The action and intonation is spot on and after getting used to the instrument, adjustment is accurate and simple to suit your own preferences.
As for performance, K Rintr is rightly proud of the tone of this instrument. Unplugged, the guitar resonates across the range. Plugged, it sings and sustains as long as you want. It is very unusual to get such full tone from solid bodies and this is a tribute to very careful material selection before manufacture. It is a tribute to the 40 years experience that K Rintr puts into building these instruments.
Atlas produce a range of their own pickups and the ones fitted are perfect in flexibility, tone and sustain for my needs. The switching combinations between the single coils and humbuckers gives you all the options you could want without touching your amplifier set up.
The Atlas team are always ready to advise and to assist admittedly easier for me as I am just down the road from the shop. Still, any questions are dealt with quickly and they go out of their way to be helpful. I have had quick and complete replies to e mails.
I am waiting eagerly for my second Atlas custom guitar. I have played several different Atlas instruments and now they are building a hollowbody style for me. I am sure that again K Rintrs choices will make it into an instrument to be proud of.
Obviously these guitars are getting more popular as buyers in Europe and America realise that luthiers in other countries are just as able as the home-grown ones. You get an custom instrument that stands up against equivalent specifications from any of the big names and in many cases is more versatile. With the current price levels, it is an unbeatable deal for a custom guitar and the Atlas team stand behind their products after sales.
Would I buy another? I already am.
If somebody stole it? I would hunt them down and make them very sad.
Dr Robert S Muir
robert.muir.home@gmail.com
I have had my pickups in for a couple of weeks now , it was interesting, when i put them in to begin with they were definitly thicker sounding than the Dimarzio bridge and Yamaha cheapo neck pickup (although strangely for a real cheap pickup the Yamaha had quite a full sound) .
Anyway i was impressed so i thought why not do a coil tap aswell , i have a Duncan single in the middle and they all blend well together , although i have to say that these can do single coil no problem so i could have took it out but i wanted the most cheap looking trick guitar possible (i think i'm close) .
The sound is now has more oomph i still have the original guitars character (almost SG like).
Thank you once again i may contact you eventualy if i decide to go with them on one of my other guitars (Palmbay Tidalwave) but i am not sure weather i want to mess with that one yet it is almost hot enough as it is (but it could be hotter).
Regards Warren.
mailto:warwol@tesco.net
I would like to say how pleased I am with the guitar that you made for me and which I bought from Good Vibrations music shop in Nelson, New Zealand.
I needed to reduce the number of guitars I owned and have been able to sell my Fender Strat and Epiphone Emperor thin line. I have to play a range of music from cruisy easy listening to Rock and Roll and this guitar does it all with ease. Put through a Traynor valve amp its versatility knows no bounds. At a flick of switch I can be playing crunchy country licks on the bridge pickup with the single coil selected and return to the neck humbucker for the next easy listening number. Thank you once again for making one of the most playable and versatile guitars I have ever owned. I was particularly pleased with the way you were able to fulfil my requirements for a simple sunburst finish with the rectangular neck inlays.
Colin Coke
Arthaven
3 Orion Street
Collingwood
Golden Bay 7073
colin@arthaven.co.nz
This is one of the most amazing guitar I have ever played. It looks fabulous and plays like dream. All solid mahogany body with AAAAA maple top, ebony fretboard, wide fat style neck, deep tenon joint. These are my personal favourite features. This guitar is like a PRS but better over all. It is all hand made, no long neck heel and all hardware equipted are top quality. Best part is this guitar cost only a fraction of a PRS. Andrew is a very busy yet very helpful. He sent me all the photos of the guitar making process and offered me a lot of valuable suggestions. The guitar itself is super versatile. I could get really punchy les paul tone, a mellow jazz tone, or even a strat tone with coil spilit.
If I were to get Andrew make another one for me, there are a few improvement I would make. These are just my personal preference. I'd choose a deeper back contour, like strat contour, it is deep, comfortable and reduce some weight. A little slimer neck, the current one is already very good, it is beefy and produce good tone, but a the neck shouder is a little fat for me. Smaller frets. I would also use a wilkinson CONTEMPORARY 5+1 HOLE TREMOLO or similar. The current tremolo system( i think it is called VSV400P) is like a PRS system, there are notches under each mounting screw head, which is fitted with the corresponding knife edge in each hole on the bridge. It is designed to have the tremolo float. My personal favourite setup is to have the tremolo plate flat and sit on the deck, like a strat. Some people may not like it, because you can not pull up anymore, but I think it helps to get the guitar stay in tune and produce a bit more resonance and sustain.
Shanyue Guan
Hughesdale, Victoria
Australia
