Hi Jeroen,
My ATK300 is Korean, and the ATK305 is indeed Indonesian. I'll do a comparison by starting with my ATK300L first:
- - several of the tuners are loose inside the body-bracket, and can be wiggled slightly back-and-forth, away from the headstock. It doesn't affect tuning, and the bass stays in tune, but I have been considering buying new ones. I don't know if that was the way they were made back in '95, or the tuners were banged around, causing them to loosen up. One of the tuning ears shows a slight warp-age in the chrome, as if it was bent once and bent back in to place. Surprisingly, that is not the loose one.
- - the neck of course has the urethane finish coat front and back, and and on the headstock. The sides of the fretboard have a fairly sharp ridge to them. Although the frets were finished to be even with the fretboard, there is still a bit of a sharp ridge left behind when they were dressed. The fret width is measuring 0.114mm. Comparing the fret wire to my old '90's SR800, and several other basses, the wire I guess would be considered jumbo. Never noticed how wide and tall the frets are; not noticeable when playing.
- - I have Everly Brothers B-52 Bombers- Medium Gauge - installed, and have the pickup adjusted quite high, so there is a very piano-like sound to it. Also have the action as low as I can adjust it without getting fret buzz. Having played it this way for a couple of months now, I'm going to raise the action just a bit. The overall sound has a nice growl to it, and set up the way it is now, it is a perfect slap monster! Now if I could just slap....
OK, now for the ATK305.....
- - the tuning keys are nice and tight, with no wiggle or movement in any direction. Makes me definitely want to get new tuners for the 300L....
- - the neck has a satin finish front and back, similar to my late '90's Carvin LB75. The sides of the fretboard are more rounded and smooth; no trace of a sharp edge like the 300L. The frets are finished better, and are rounded to the side of the neck. I don't feel any sharpness at all at their edges. Very nice work done on the neck by the factory. Frets are the same width as the 300L....
- - the bass came with Elixer Nanoweb strings installed. Having played the first generation Elixers, these feel like they have no coating on them at all, and although they are mediums (.45-.105 + .130), they have a light-gauge feel to them. They seem to be a little more mellow sounding than the B-52's, but that may be due to the factory delivered set-up of the pickup, and action height.
- - the pickup height came adjusted with the B-string side adjusted about medium high, and the G-string side screwed all the way down. I played it that way for about five minutes, and then adjusted the G-string side up to medium. It rounded the sound out on the G-string, as it was sounding thin compared to the lower strings. Action came adjusted medium high, and is OK for now. The sound is a bit mellower than the 300L, it doesn't have that piano-like sound 300L has. But I'm sure that has something to do with the Elixer's, and the pickup and action height. I wonder if the lack of a urethane finish on the neck has something to do with the mellower sound I'm hearing. What do you guys think?
I'm going to keep it strung right handed for a bit so I can let some of my bass buddies who've been interested in ATK's play it. Still need to figure out how I'm going to strap it on without drilling a hole in the small horn, which I would like to avoid. Had my friend that bought the original right-hand ATK I posted awhile back play it the other day, and he really liked the way it played, felt, and sounded.
As far as the finish on the neck, did all of the original ATK's come with a urethane finish, or were there some models that came with a satin finish also? Are all the new millenia basses all satin finished, or is that an option? It's interesting how a fairly stable bass design has so many subtle changes...
Well, that's all I have for now!
Aloha,
Ian
