LeftyBassist.com

Just curious- what do you guys think the current market value/ price is for a lefty Ibanez ATK300L... you know the Korean version with the Amber color finsh? Jeroen I know you are the local ATK guru....

I'd say somewhere between $400-500, depending on condition. I got mine a little over a year ago for $350.

Here in Europe you rarely see the Korean version, mostly the Japanese version in transparent black. I've only seen one amber-coloured ATK300 pop up in Europe, it belongs to Arni.

Over here, both versions sell for 350-400 Euros (430-500 USD) generally, even though the Japanese version is more highly regarded.

There also appears to be a transitional version, somewhere between '96 and '98. Korean serial numbers generally start with a C, which stands for Cort, who built the Korean ATK's. Japanese serial numbers start with an F, which stands for Fujigen. Lots of ATK's have a serial number starting with FC though. These serial numbers can also be found on some of the RX series guitars, of which production also at some point moved from South-Korea to Japan when they became more succesful and the series was expanded.
(though my '96 ATK300, ex '97 ATK300 and '98 ATK305 are all Japanese-made with an F-serial)

I was very fortunate after over three months of searching the internet to bid on, and win an amber ATK300l back in May 2009. The winning bid was $361.99, and shipped the total was $386.94, which I thought was very fair considering the rarity of Lefty ATK's. Two weeks later my roommate bought a right handed amber ATK for $305.

If and when you can find a 90's left handed ATK, and the price is below $500 with shipping, I'd say don't hesitate - buy it, as long as it is good to great condition, and all original hardware/covers, and pickguard are still on the bass, or comes with it.

Now I'm curious too: are you looking to sell yours, Carmine? Or are you looking at getting another one?


By the way, this Japanese one sold on eBay Germany yesterday for the highest price I've seen so far (but then again, it's in absolute mint condition, even with the protective plastic foil still on the pickguard!):
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... K:MEWAX:IT

Is/was that the same one listed on Arni's site now? The one on Arni's is fretless, however, though it looks like it was de-fretted rather than a true fretless given the maple fretboard and fret lines.

No, that's not the same one. The one on Arni's site is indeed defretted, and the back of the neck has been shaved. I have emailed the seller this morning as I would like to buy it for parts, but I was probably too late given the asking price of only €60!

Translation:

Looking at another one. And trying to figure out what the manufacuring history was on Lefties, other than the original first run were Lefties ever re-issued?. Am I right that other than the Paul Gray there's no Lefty ATKs being offered by Ibanez in any market right now?

By the way, was doing some research and stumbled across this Guitar Center special version ATK3EX1 offered back in 2007 that I'd never seen before (see pic)- damn, I wish they'd offered that in a lefty instead of the Paul Gray!!

You're right, other than the first series ATK300 and ATK305 there were no lefties and the PGB-1 is the only lefty currently produced.

I'm not really into the all-black thing. I would have liked it if the pickguard was a 3-ply and the fingerboard was maple though
And what to think of this extremely posh version with engraved bridge and pickguard, the ATK300RSPBK?

As some of you know by now, I've been hunting the internet for the past year for an ATK305L, with no luck. I posted in an earlier thread about finally buying a right handed ATK305 - shown below - that one day I'll probably strip and put all the parts on a new body I'll make myself, and have a motorcycle shop paint the same sparkle finish to match the headstock. I haven't seen a left handed ATK on the net since I bought mine. People just don't give them up....

You should measure that neck. It doesn't look like it's any wider than a 300 neck; maybe all you need to do is use the bridge and cut a new nut to convert a lefty 300. Oh, and add a tuner....

Went ahead and picked up the ATK yesterday at a small local store, so now I have 2. Serial #s are only 7 digits apart (28 and 35) but these two guys were definitely not cut from the same raw slab of Ash at the factory. The most immediately apparent differences between new arrival ATK1 (top) and ATK2 (bottom) is the more pronouced grain pattern on ATK2, and the weight difference. I thought ATK1 felt noticably lighter in the store; when I got it home and put both on the bathroom scale, ATK2 weighed in at 9.8 lbs and ATK1 is only 8.8 lbs. You can definitely feel the difference! With everything set neutral ATK2 sounds a bit brighter than ATK1, but that could just be the strings...

Ash vs. alder? Or were all of these made from ash?

All this talk about ATKs had me digging mine out last night for a spin. Mine weighs a ton, but man, what a bass. I dare say, I think I like these better than Stingrays. 'Rays may have a slight edge in the tone dept., but it's close, and these are more versatile with the switch and the playability is better, IMO, especially for slapping.

My ATK is 10.8 lbs........







I had 2 EB Rays and my ATK sounds better than they did, hands down. My 2 pre-EB basses were even better, though.

I thought the same thing, but in an old thread of mine, Jeroen pointed out the the 5-string neck is indeed larger than the 4-string. Otherwise I would have swapped it onto my Amber body a long time ago! And I'm not going to route it out to accept the 5-string neck and destroy a rare original ATK300L. Especially because it has a history of being on the tour bus with Rob Zombie... Although I can't say as I didn't consider it!

Well, don't forget to consider the asymmetrical heel when you make that body.....

Thanks for that tip Dano... I'll make sure I take exacting measurements, as I wan't it to look like the factory made it when I'm done. the hardest part will be getting the paint job as close to the original as possible.

Well these original ATK300s were always known as heavy basses, I gotta believe my 8.8 pounder is probably as light as they ever got, but maybe your 10.8 lbs is on the other extreme about as heavy as they got, and my 9.8 pounder is about average?

Anybody else have a original ATK weigh in to report?


BTW Dano, what's up with that second mini switch on yours- that's not original is it?

I just put mine on the bathroom scale. 11lbs, give or take.

Speaking of visual differences, Carmine, is it just your picture or do your two have different pickguard screws? They look more pronounced in the top one and/or black in the second one. Also note that Danos has 8 pickguard screws and not 7 like ours.

Holy crap Batman- 11 lbs? Amazing that you can have over 2 lbs of variation in the weight of a guitar sized hunk of the same wood- but then we've all seen enough old Fenders to know it's not unheard of. We need a few more weigh-ins for the sample group, but maybe I've got 2 of the lighter ones at 8.8 and 9.8 lbs. Now I'm REALLY tickled to have picked up this 8.8 pounder! As far as I know, all the originals were made from Ash and both mine look to be Ash although the lighter one is less grainy. I don't know if the reissues are Ash or not.

On my first one yes it has black pickguard screws in it- do you like that look? As far as Dano's 8 screws, it looks like one was added on the top side and I'm not surprized because these pickguards had a tendency to warp pretty easily so it's probably helping to hold it down. My first one has a small bit of a warp in that same area.

I'm with you, all this talk about our ATKs has gotten me re-invigorated about them in general- but wow, these things are really awesome tone machines, and so balanced and comfortable to play. I don't know why my first one had fallen out of the rotation at some point, because I played the hell out of it for quite awhile when I first got it. I know a lot has been made about the "poor man’s Stingray" thing that Ibanez was supposedly going for, but at the risk of offending some purist somewhere I have to say IMO the ATK300 kicks the Stingray’s ass! Yes I have my Stingray, and it is a higher quality instrument than the ATK300. But I kinda struggle to find my sound in it, and there’s really only one sound that I like from it… whereas the ATK300 just GIVES you sounds and more sounds- it’s way more versatile and you don’t have to go searching to get what you want. In fact if I had to live with only one bass to cover every situation, the ATK300 would be on my short list.