Anderson Atom

Flamed maple top on mahogany, rosewood fretboard, large stainless steel frets, H1 neck humbucker + H02 bridge humbucker, atom standard bridge, Buzz Feiten tuning system.

Much lighter and thinner than a Les paul ??? very similar to a telecaster in size a weight.

The finish on this guitar is absolute perfection. I???ve looked over it many times, trying to pick a fault in it. I don???t know how they could get it perfect, but they did.

60???s+ shape neck- the most comfortable neck that I have ever played ??? very accessible, very smooth, not too small and effortless to play. Bending strings is easy and the strings do not choke. It absolutely kills my strat and les paul for playability.

5 way pickup selector with pull-tone giving 10 settings. The pull-tone selects ???vintage voicing??? [this cuts the pickup output giving a less focused, more ???open??? vintage sound ??? subtle but effective]. Perfectly set-up, all frets perfect, no dead spots, no blemishes on finish ??? 100% perfect.

I play the Atom straight through a Carr Mercury valve amp rarely using effects. I play a range of styles from pop, rock to 80???s metal, and it all sounds great with the Atom.

I chose this guitar because under my fingers, a Les Paul sounds too dark and lifeless, a Strat too weak and a tele too brittle. I have owned all three of these guitars, and I constantly hear other people getting great tones from them - but under my fingers, they just don???t quite cut it. The Atom on the other hand does do it. It???s bright and warm, has bell-like smooth tones, and you can dial in alot of articulation and treble if you need it. The Atom covers most of these Les Paul, Tele and Strat tones that I hear these other people getting from these guitars. So if you are like me and the normal 3 guitars don???t quite work for you, then try the Atom.

Basically, the Atom takes the spank, the note articulation and the quick rise of notes from the tele and combines that with the midrange and sustain of the Les Paul. So, in essence it offers a very useable, flexible mix of both Gibson and Fender sounds. The extent to which can cover the sounds of these guitars is also subjective ??? under my fingers it does a great job at doing so, but it didn???t for a mate who loves his nocaster. So my advice is to try it out.

I was looking for a guitar that has both grunt and spank, something that would respond well to both a belting and to soft playing, and something that could cover a lot of ground. The Atom with its humbucking and split-coil tones fits this bill perfectly.

The pull-tone gives 10 usable high quality sounds, from Les Paul, to tele, to fat strat. The tone knob works brilliantly, giving a great range of usable tonal variation throughout the sweep.

The humbucking sounds are both articulate and smooth, depending on where you set the tone control. Tone on 10 for hot humbucking Strat/Charvel sounds, below that and it covers the Les Paul/ SG tones. It handles both clean, filthy and everything in between tones equally well. A 100% score for the humbuckers ??? I couldn???t ask for a better sound.

The split-coil sounds are of very good quality, however they are just that ??? split-coils and not singles. If you are a single coil purist, get a guitar with singles. A single coil purist criticising these split-coil tones, may say that the ???split pickup sounds are a little ???grainy???, slightly harsh and are lacking somewhat in the ???bell-like??? roundness that really good single coils have???. I???m not deducting points for this here, because the guitar has humbuckers, so I view the split sounds as just a bonus [but what a hell of a bonus!]. If I were judging the guitar on its split sounds alone I???d give it an 8 [But this 8 still beats my ???57 re-issue with Fralin Vintage Hot pickups in it!]. I haven???t heard the Atoms equipped with the M-series single pickups, so I can???t comment.

This guitar is articulate without being sterile [particularly in split-coil mode], making every note you play stand out. However, under my fingers I have found it to be much less articulate and far more ???forgiving??? than the nocaster custom shop teles.

To me this is easily the best sounding and most flexible new guitar I have ever played. It just works for me.

The nut slot on the b-string was cut too wide [or something] and as a result produces a duller quieter sound when played openly. All the rest are fine though.

The neck joint is solid, however I can bend the neck very easily by pushing or pulling softly on the headstock. With a ???thumb wrap around??? chord, you can easily sharpen or flatten the notes. Whilst I have great faith in Tom???s guitar building abilities, I wish it took a lot more pressure to bend than it does.

As stated before, the neck does bend easily with pressure on the headstock. When you bend it, absolutely no creaks or movement emanate from the neck joint.

This is easily the best new guitar I have ever played. The overall feel and playability of this guitar is wonderful. You never have to fight this guitar to get a good sound, as I had to with my strat, tele and Les Paul. Every sound on every setting is useable and of high quality.

Superbly finished off ??? apart from the nut issue. It???s staggering how much better these guitars feel than the mainstream mass produced ones. Everything is in the correct place and does what it is supposed to every time. Responds to every nuance of your playing. If you are like me and under your fingers a Les Paul sounds too dark and lifeless, a Strat too weak and tele too brittle, then this may be the guitar for you.

2005 dark cherry burst with binding flamed maple top on mohagony
mohagony, rosewood fretboard 1 11/16 nut heavy frets buzz feiten tuning system chrome wrap around bridge 3 pups M1/M1/M3 5 way switching with a push/pull coil tap weighs 6lbs on the bathroom scale

This guitar has a lot of useful tones. I can get the best clean tones I've heard on anything with the middle 3 settings. A lot of tele sounds and some solid LP sounds. The pups have great articulation and note separation. I paid $2200 for this and when I hear the quality of the sound I know it was money well spent. Can't say enough about the depth and quality of tone. Crystal clear with depth.

I bought this from another collector so I can't say anything about the factory set up, but I have played a number of Andersons in shops and they all feel and play the same. This is the easiest guitar to play you can put your hands on. Very little pressure is needed to fret notes and chords. My speed went up immediately because the neck plays so well. The back of the neck is a satin finish and your hand doesn't stick to it. This guitar makes you honest because if you can't play well you know it's you and not the equipment. Super playability, super setup, flawless fit and finish. Scale is 24.75 like a LP and it has a compound radius fretboard. I believe it's 12 to 14 inches. This guitar hangs balanced and feels like a Strat against your body, but the neck has the scale and feel of a LP. The combination, to me, is perfect.

Can't comment on this other than to say this guitar is built as solid as they come.

I had one question to them about altering pup height and they replied to me within 24 hours. Their reputation is outstanding and they give top-dollar service because you pay top-dollar for their product.

I own many guitars and have bought and sold many over the years; this is my hobby. I buy what I fancy from ebay sellers and if it's perfect I keep it, if not I resell it. I've gone through about 30 guitars like this in the last 3 years and currently have an Epiphone LP Elite, Cort M800, Nashville Telecaster, American Strat Plus, and this Anderson Atom. I have a good perspective for value in guitars and have spent top dollar on some Fender and Gibsons only to reject them later. What I always want to learn in these reviews is the value/buck findings of other people who own the guitars I'm researching. If you are doing the same my advice is that this Anderson is an expensive piece and it's worth every penny. Absolutely the best sounding, most playable instument I've come across to date. I can buy just about anything I want but I want a solid value. This guitar abosolutely delivers. If I had to buy just one guitar this would be it. It covers everything and plays like a dream.

Made in 2005- Anderson's short scale mahoghany original, Bigsby, maple top, two humbuckers plus mini humbucker in middle. with splitting the two full size hummers and tone-adds-bridge, many different tones.

Wow. This guitar has changed my playing. I've always played long scale teles and strats. Now, nothing is a sweet as a strat or spanky as a tele, but this guitar has a lot of both whilst adding that mahogany soulful midrange. The Atom is never muddy, very clear and articulate. Punchy, loud, yet with delicacy and nuance. A bit like I remember Jerry Garcia's sound in later days.

I play rock to space loop ambient stuff to neo-surf to rockabilly. This guitar covers all those with ease- even surf sounds suprisingly good. The bigsby is great- you can drop D without retuning, and double stop country leads don't get pulled out of tune, like with a vintage tremolo. Looks killer too.

The split sounds are very warm and open, crisp, like a Gretch blended with Fender and a good SG. But it really is it's own guitar, not just a comprimise between Gretch, Fender and Gibson. It really can go to those places, but it really has it's own personality. It has an ergonomic sensuality of tone and beauty- a deep warmth- equisite midrange 'honk' without sacrificing clarity- that I haven't found in any guitar, including other fine Andersons, Suhrs and such I enjoy.

I'm really blown away- and by the way I also bought a hollow atom, as reviewed on that page. In comparison, the hollow atom (with low powered M pups) is far more complex overtone wise, with a very soft yet clear midrange, very Gretchy adding the mahoghany vibe. The atom reviewed here in contrast is aggressive, with more bight and punch. Yang to the other's yin. If I had to get rid of one, I'd be in a fix as which one to pick no pun intended.

Really, these two atoms are blowing my mind.

Almost perfect in terms of set up. The touch of real care Anderson puts into these guitars is tangible on just looking at them. Oh yeah- this is a light guitar for solid mahoghany. More like a slightly heavier than average Strat.

I own 5 Andersons, the oldest for 13 years. Never had the slightest problem with any of them.

Totally solid, sincere, and passionate bunch of folks, and say that with years of dealings with them.

Been playing 33 years. Own Suhr strat, two Anderson hollow Ts, and the other Atom, the hollow one. I've already raved enough- but I've been playing either this guitar or the other atom for two months straight, and I cannot even pick up another guitar. Oh yeah- I play through a pedalboard through mostly Keely and Fulltone stuff into a Line 6 delay and modulation modelers, then go stereo with subtle panning, into a Carr Rambler and a tone king meteor II.

For my money, the Atom may be the perfect single guitar for me, as the utimate hybrid guitar with it's own soul. I really couldn't ask more of a guitar, and I'm an unhappy perfectionist for the most part. Not lately!!! Pricey though, but I still give it a ten. But I would pay even more than I did to get this guitar (don't tell Anderson!), even if I had to borrow the money to do it from the russian mafia.

This is the new single cut Tom Anderson. Scale length is 24.75 inches (the Gibson favourite), 22 heavy stainless steel frets, H1A humbucker (neck) and H2+A (bridge). Five way selector: postion 1 neck humbucker, position 2 is neck split, position 3 neck + bridge HBs, position 4 is bridge split, position 5 bridge HB. Position 3 and pull on the tone splits the middle (both pickups together).

Body is lightweight mahogany with a flamed maple drop top, finished in Tiger Eye with binding. Neck is mahogany with Rosewood fingerboard and satin finish. Truss rod adjustment hex at the headstock end (much more convenient than earlier Andersons).

Custom designed stop tail bridge (wrap around + intonation screws). Buzz Feiten tuning system (recommended!); non-locking tuners. Also has a new A-wedge neck joint which offers really good access to the dusty end.

Very nice shaped case with tools for truss rod adjustment.

I play mainly rock music, metal, and rockabilly (weird combination -I know - I use my Anderson Hollow Drop Top for rockabilly, altough the Atom may be good for the Gretsch Duojet sound...). I'm using Cornford amps (Carrera and Harlequin) and Fulltone effects.

All I can say is - wow! Played acoustically, it is really resonant and loud. Plugged in, it is really resonant and loud. Each of the pickup selections is useful, although you get some reduction in volume with the split selections (as you would expect).

The neck pickup sounds really warm and full, the bridge is warm but powerful, with some bite and it is loud !(I don't think I mentioned that yet).

For everything from Dire Straits (think Brothers in Arms) to Slash/GNR/Velvet Revolver to Zakk Wylde to Randy Rhoads, this is the most beautiful sound I have heard from a guitar of this type (and I've owned Gibson Les Paul Historics, PRS Singlecuts - I can say that now, right???). This does it all really well. I can't stop playing it. It's also really loud.

As with all Anderson guitars the setup, finish and fit was perfect from the case. I've adjusted the neck to add in a little relief. Craftsmanship is excellent: frets, nut etc. Smells good too.

I only had one minor problem with the jack plug which needed a little attention to allow the guitar cable to fit really smoothly. The tone pot was a bit crackly, but this is most likely to be from dust at the retailer and it disappeared with a squirt of contact cleaner.

It is built to last and I will gig with it. I've not had it that long so won't give a rating but given TAG's reputation I'm not worried.

Tom Anderson replies personally to your emails - enough said!

When I first saw the Atom in blue, I wasn't sure about the shape. However, have a look at it in other colours and it seems to change (a bit like looking at a Ferrari that isn't red...)

It is so easy to play and sounds so perfect that my search for a really good single cut guitar is over. Get one while you can...Gibson have probably called their lawyers...