1980s Atlas D-469 Dreadnought Guitar

While I've got no proof, I'm pretty sure that this guitar was made by Yamaki (makers of Daion) for whoever was selling under the Atlas name at the time. It's not an upper-crust import guitar like the Daions and has an entirely-ply body, but there are many similarities in the construction, finish, and build style of this guitar to Daions and other Yamaki products I've held and played. It also sounds and feels like one. Notice that the high-end in the video clip doesn't have that pingy/zippy quality a lot of ply-top guitars have? It sounds like a solid D-18 clone of some sort to my ears. It's clean-sounding.

Anyhow, a customer of mine traded this in to counterbalance some repair work, so I gave it a going-over which included a fret level/dress, compensation and adjustment to the adjustable saddle, a bridge sanding and polishing/stain to give it a more pro look (it's rosewood but was stained black like ebony which was fading and looking gross), general cleaning, and a setup. The neck is straight with a functioning truss rod, the frets have plenty of life, and it handles roughly like a Martin D-18 from the late '60s in the way the neck is cut and feels.

Specs are: 25 9/16" scale length, 1 11/16" nut width, 1 7/16" string spacing at the nut, 2 3/16" spacing at the bridge, 15 3/4" lower bout, 11 5/8" upper bout, and 4 11/16" depth at the endblock. The neck has a ~12" radius to its rosewood board and a mild-to-medium soft, C/V hybrid shape to the rear -- a lot like an older Martin. Action is 3/32" EA and 1/16" DGBE at the 12th fret and the strings are 54w-12 lights.

The saddle is adjustable in height and I like the way these ones work because they make good contact with the bridge and tend to give a bit of extra punch. Modding it to a drop-in bone or wood saddle would probably warm it up just slightly, however, though that crunchy sound would perhaps be more subdued.

Woods are: ply spruce top (with a creamy-white look), ply rosewood back and sides, solid mahogany-like wood for the neck with a 2 or 3-piece heel section, and rosewood fretboard and bridge. The nut and saddle insert are plastic. It's all-original except for the strings, too, and has a presumably-original chip case as well. The "pearl" trim around the top edge is plastic but still catches the eye nicely.

These black, plastic-housing sealed tuners are very much a thing of the early '80s Japanese-import guitars (I think this one probably dates from '83 or earlier because of them). I mostly see them on Daions. You have to be careful not to tighten-up the threaded shaft/ferrules on these too much or you'll split the housing. These are all good to go, however.

The heel cap's plastic shrunk and cracked but I glued the bits back on and stabilized them.

Here's that chip case I was talking about -- it's serviceable but deadly-plain.