Fender BG 29 acoustic electric feeler

Yeah, that's a little pricey.

http://www.daddys.com/detail.php?itemTitle=fender-bg29&itemNumber=FEN2234

Thanks Fenderman, I was pretty sure you would know this. I talked him down 150 and got it for 3 and absolutely love it. This thing totally outperforms the others i have tried and is really really nice to look at. I still dont know Retail value for this but I kinda place my own value on basses according to quality and tone and i feel fine about 3 bills. And this is my first forray into Korean Fenders and I am amazed! Are all/most Korean Fenders this good or did I just get lucky?

I really don't know.  There's nothing wrong with Korean made instruments in and of themselves.

As far as that particular model, I'd guess they'd be reasonably consistent instruments for the price. 

I've played a couple and they played and sounded fine but they had absolutely no acoustic volume and I was really looking for that.

The unplugged volume is a bit low but my biggest beef with that is lack of definition from C on down, it gets kinda muddy. the strings on it seem to be pretty well worn so Im gonna  remedy that as soon as I decide what to go with. Most of the music I play is heavy stuff but this works great for sitting around late at night without headphones and cords to fuss with and play. Just for kicks I recorded a couple tracks as is to Ableton Live7 and it was amazing! All the mud went away without any noticeable loss of tone and,with headphones, when I bumped the volume to set my level it really came alive. The shorter scale is kinda growing on me but in the past 5 or 6 months Ive made the move from the Explorers outstretched neck to a Jazz 5er and this feels really nice. Im thinkin now about trying out a Mustang bass for the money gigs, you have any experience with those?

Yeah, new strings ought to clear up the mudiness issue.  Keep in mind that, with an 'acoustic' bass, a little lack of definition isn't a bad thing.  IMO.  I mean, it's an acoustic.  It should sound somewhere between an electric and an upright.  Again, IMO.

As for Mustangs, they are very nice little basses.  I don't have one, I have an old Musicman which is very similar.

You say you play heavy music and you want a Mustang for money gigs.   A Mustang would, visually, seem to be an odd choice for metal but might work sonically.  Who knows?  Allen Woody of Govt Mule played a short scale.  Worked for him.

Are you a converted guitarist, by chance?  You seem to be digging the short scale.  More comfortable?

No fenderman its been bass all the way for me. I started out with an ancient Audition sort of Jazz clone when I was 14 and that was 29 years ago. The reason Im enjoying the short scale stuff is because of a lazy back, Ive got compression fractures from T1 all the way to L4 that just dont want to heel. The shorter scale appeals to me because of a,Possibly misconceived, sense of lower weight. My band still plays 4 hour gigs and the long scale basses I have used get awful heavy around the 3rd set. Ive never payed any attention to short scale basses until I saw a video of Nazareth's Morning Dew, He was playin a Musicman I believe. For some reason , until the BG came along I had believed that short scale basses didnt have the absolute bottom end of long scale. I was Wrong. Being the old dudes we are, we are way more interested in playing and sounding the best we can. having said that, any pain I can avoid at the show will no doubt make my playing better cuz when I aint feelin the groove, unfortunately, the crowd wont either.