pjmuck wrote:
Maybe Jeroen can weigh in on this, since he seems to know a lot about Ibanez basses.
I don't know much about the Korean-made models. All 3 I had were made in Japan, and somehow most lefties I've seen available on my side of the pond have been! And all have been Trans Black, none in Amber.
I've only ever played one Korean ATK300L but didn’t pay attention to the nut. Played it with the intention of buying, but decided to wait out for a Japanese one, convinced it would be "better". I don't think it was, but that was the general concensus about the Ibanez quality levels: if you want a genuinely good one, you go Japanese).
The ATK (and TR series likewise, the TR500 Expressionist was a stellar bass) was a funny example of an Ibanez model that didn’t have a Japanese version at all when it was introduced (and the TR never saw a Japanese version AT ALL), and when production eventually did move to Japan in 1996 after the overwhelming success of the ATK, it wasn't a higher-end model but the very same ATK300, with all the same hardware, woods and electronics
