LeftyJ

Bought my Rickenbacker 4003 through their website when the Pound was really low, just over a year ago. Very pleasant dealing with them.

That's a tough one, I wonder what the luthite (compressed wood fibres and resin) compares to tonally.

TBH I feel the sheer size and mass of the bridge is largely responsible for the tonal character of the ATK so I wouldn't change it. I've never removed the bridges on my ATK's so I have no idea about the routings. I suspect the pickup routing won't be much larger than the pickup itself, the part of the bridge passing the pickup on both sides isn't very wide so there can't possibly be a lot to hide. A routing you do need to keep in mind is the cavity below the holes in the bridge where you can anchor the strings in the bridge if you don't string it through body. Not every replacement bridge will cover this up entirely. I don't know how large it is exactly, but it has to be at least as wide as the space between the outer edges of the string holes in the bridge and at least deep enough to put in the entire ball end to hook it below the baseplate of the bridge. This routing probably also contains the ground wire from the electronics to the bridge. The neck is big and chunky, similar to a Precision type neck.

Sometimes it has its advantages to be a lefty Few people are able to play my basses, luckily, so I don't get that question very often. I don't mind other people playing my basses, as long as I know them and know they'll be careful. I will always turn down a complete stranger who asks me at a gig though.

I think it's a big mistake to put the covers on, they should have supplied those separately. And blocks without bindings are ugly as hell imho. I do like the idea of blending some classic Jazz Bass elements from different era's though, but aside from the '70's bridge pickup placement, nothing really sets it apart from an American Standard. They could have done a lot better.

My choice would be the G&L L2000 over a Stingray. I feel the Stingray has more character and balls, but the L2000 is a much more versatile beast and really does it all. I would prefer a USA-made instrument over the Tribute, but as you say, the Tribute is a lot of bass at half the price of a Ray.

I believe the PGB-1 is Korean-made whereas the regular ATK300's are Indonesian-made. But to me that still doesn't justify the difference in price. The Indonesian ATK's are a LOT of bass for the money already, and really well-made.

Here's my pair of lefty MC924's, an '81 and an '83. I need to take some better pics of the '83, but for now this 'll have to do The thumbrest on the '81 was not mounted there by me. I wish it wasn't there, and especially not in that position as it is of no use whatsoever. Can't comfortably reach down to the G-string from there...

[quote name='Plux_the_Duck' post='751760' date='Feb 20 2010, 02:24 PM']I'm expecting HoweDy to come here and say get the MIJ one any second...[/quote] He had opened a whole thread about it here But it was moved to Gear Porn by a moderator.

They're great basses indeed, I love my lefty a lot too. Just too bad the bridge pickup isn't in the '70's position, that's the only thing it lacks IMO.

They're not really twins, the one on the left was born two years earlier so the one on the right is the evolved version, but both are MC924's:

This ATK300RSPBK kinda matches your description:

More or less in chronological order ([b]bold[/b] indicates I still own it): -Condor Jazz Bass (1970's); -Yamaha TRB5II (2001); -Jan Bak custom Precision (199x); -Ibanez SR800LE (1987); -MrBassman No Sweat (199x); -Condor Jazz Bass (1970's); [b]-Ellio Martina Forza (2002); -Ibanez ATK300 (1996); -Sandberg Bullet 5 fretless (unknown);[/b] -Longbow American Classic 30" (200x); [b]-Cort NTL-B FL (2004); [/b] -Kydd Big Kydd EUB (1999); [b]-Ibanez ATK305 (1998); -Rickenbacker 4003 (2008); [/b]-G&L SB-2 (1998 I think); [b]-Fender Japan JB75-US ('75 Jazz Bass reissue, 2004); -Ibanez MC924 (1981);[/b] -Ibanez ATK300 (1997); [b]-Italia Torino Bass semi-hollowbody (2008); -Ibanez MC924 (1983); -Longbow American Classic 32" (2009); -Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay 5 (2003); -Fender Japan PB57 ('57 Precision reissue, 2006).[/b]

For anyone who's interested, I just wrote an article on my MC924L's on leftybassist.com. It also briefly sums up a little bit of Ibanez Musician history. It doesn't cover MC's produced after 1984 because there no longer were lefthanded versions of the MC range available, it mostly covers the MC924, but the MC900 is mentioned briefly too. [url="http://www.leftybassist.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1440"]http://www.leftybassist.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1440[/url]

That's lovely! Those truly are great basses. I have two MC924L's and they're simply amazing, especially for their age.

I have an Ibanez Musician that was made in my year of birth, an '83 MC924L. It's the one to the right (the left one is an '81 MC924L):

My CIJ is quite heavy too, otherwise it's a great bass. Just too bad the bridge pickup isn't in the proper 70's position, unlike the MIM Classic Series 70's Jazz and the American Vintage '75 Jazz Bass. It gets you very close to that 70's vibe though . If it's of any help (probably not to the TS, as he spefically mentioned he's looking for an MIA), I've written a review on mine on leftybassist.com: [url="http://www.leftybassist.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1439"]http://www.leftybassist.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1439[/url]