Atlas or Sterling electric guitar help

[fredhairdu]

I just bought a beautiful old Sterling (the pick guard says Sterling and inside says Atlas) electric guitar and don't know a thing about guitars, it's a hollow body electric with a waa waa bar (I guess that's what you call it. The inside sticker says Atlas and has a man holding up the world and has model # AE252 and serial # 16447 and at bottom says Atlas musical instrument 319 west john st. Hicksville, L.I., N.Y. There is no zipcode. Any information would be great. Thank you for your time.

[VintAxe]

Hi fredhairdu,

From what I can piece together, Atlas was one of the house brands used by RCA Victor Record Stores. In 1969 RCA began using franchised music outlets to distribute their records and apparently guitars were offered as well. According to Willie Moseley, other RCA house brand labels were Baron, Royalist and Victor.

So, I don't know who made your instrument, but it is likely it was distributed through RCA Victor Record Stores. I never saw one of these stores when I was growing up, anyone out there have one of these retail outlets in their city? sb

[Big Beat]

Do you have any pics? I have seen an Atlas/Sterling violin bass. Looks quite similar to some Greco models. My guess is that Atlas was the original brand, and the Sterling stickers were put on the headstock a year or two later during some kind of merger or liquidation sale. Not sure if this particular Atlas was related to RCA, looks more like a small local LI distributor.