PRODUCT REVIEW
ATOMIC
Guitar Works
STD1
BY STEVE OUIMETTE
With the current state of the economy, it seems all we
ever get is bad news—bad news about stock prices,
unemployment, the housing market and banks. Life
can be downright depressing these days, but Atomic
Guitar Works has figured out a way to shine a big ol’
light of hope and happiness, giving us a fantastic playing shredder’s guitar that’s hand-built in America for
well under a grand. See, there’s that smile… I knew it
was in there somewhere.
Meet It
The STD1 is Atomic’s baseline model: a basswood
Strat-style body and a bolt-on maple neck and
fingerboard with a 25. 5” scale length. The simple
design houses a single Seymour Duncan JB humbucker and comes standard with a Gotoh hardtail
bridge and Hipshot tuners. The model reviewed
came in a blindingly bright canary yellow urethane
finish with all black hardware, and it may very well be
the lightest guitar I’ve ever played. It also shares a
standard feature with all Atomic guitars, the Atomic
Direct Mount Pickup System, which bolts the pickup
right to the body using a clever mounting system
that really increases both sustain and harmonic
resonance. The appointments are simple and to the
point, and everything is built by hand (no CNC) by
Tim Mulqueeny and Harry Howard in their two-man,
Peoria, AZ shop, just outside Phoenix.
Touch It
Did I mention this guitar is light? I’ve played some
featherweight guitars that fell flat tonally, but that is
not the case with the STD1. Not only will it save you a
trip to the chiropractor after a long night, it’s sonically
well balanced, with plenty of snap and pop as well as
a solid bottom end. You can see why basswood
remains popular—not only is it
affordable, it’s toneful stuff.
The hand-carved neck is neither too
slim nor too chunky, and the ease
of play (the action is low without
being ridiculous) make it a highly
addictive guitar. The Tung oil finish
seals the neck just enough to protect
it, yet retains the feel of an unfinished
raw wood neck. This once again adds to
the fun factor. While the unfinished feel
might not appeal to all players, I found
it to be a welcome detail, and some-
thing that would form itself to my
touch over time.
Over the course of the review
I developed an organic connection with the guitar. I think
the fun is built into its DNA;
it’s constructed by hand from
start to finish by people who
live to build guitars. You can
feel the care that was taken
in each step, and some of the
