Boulder Creek EBR3-N5F Acoustic/Electric 5-String Bass, Cutaway, Solid Cedar Top/ Mahogany,Natural Satin, Fretless

I have been playing this bass for several months now and I love it.One thing to note... this is a lined fretless. The bass has subtle lines where the frets would be. This is my first fretless so I was looking for a fretless with lines to help me get the hangs of it. I actually don't use the lines as much as I thought because you can't see them when you play standing up. You can see them when you sit and play.One of the first things people want to know about is the unplugged volume. I bought this bass to have as a songwriting tool so I could write music with the bass unplugged while my young children are asleep. It is loud enough to hear quite well unplugged. It will NOT compete with six string acoustic guitars... you will need to plug in to jam with unplugged guitar players. It does however sound much better and louder than the $200 to $500 acoustic basses you might have played in your local music store (I played a lot of acoustic basses before I committed to this bass). The two sound holes are a nice innovation. One hole is on top of the body pointing at the player so you can hear yourself. The other sound hole points out for people in front of you to hear.It comes strung with Di'addario brass strings which are bright and loud. These brass strings are probably the loudest for playing unplugged. I changed the strings to some TI Acousticore strings and got a rich warm sound.Plugged in this bass is a real powerhouse. The on-board electronics are great. I can get a fat rich warm sound for some bluegrass and also get a punchy sound for a rock sound. No feedback issues. It has a phase knob to help with that but I don't usually need to use it. The XLR jack is great. you can skip the DI box which helps your signal to the sound board.The built in tuner works great.The wood is really nice. This bass looks great and people will ask you about it. A nice smooth finish. The workmanship is great. I am a gear snob and was concerned about buying a Chinese made bass. I feel Boulder Creek has very high quality control standards. I believe the basses are sent to their American workshops for final setup and stringing.A couple of things I do not love about the bass...When playing standing up it does have some neck dive. A strap that goes around the headstock will fix this.My right forearm gets a little uncomfortable resting on the top the body when I play for a long time. The body of the bass is rather deep and sticks out far from your body. This forces you to rest your arm on the edge of the body at an uncomfortable angle.The bridge and the tuning knobs are fine but nothing special.All in all I would buy this bass again. I took a big chance buying this bass without being able to play it first. There are audio clips out there to hear if you search youtube. I love this bass and would recommend it

I've played only a few basses in my life and all were acoustic. This instrument has a wonderful sound. You hear the strings working and doing their thing so it's not as pristine, but that gives the instrument such great character. I had never played a 5-string or fretless before so I was a little concerned about my ability to play this. It has proved to be an awesome experience. The sound is great through the instrument itself, although like many acoustic basses, it's not as loud as an acoustic guitar. Of course, that is to be expected. The sound port on the top of the instrument allows me to hear the bass better. The included electronics sound great, although I did have an issue of feedback which I don't have with electric basses. Then again, that was so much fun to play with too! It's easily controlled by holding the strings when using a floor monitor. I could easily swap out my floor monitor for in-ear and solve that problem if I wanted to.Overall, I'm very impressed with the build quality and can't wait to play this some more!

It's expensive for a cheap bass, but cheap for an expensive bass. Feels like more of the latter. :) Interesting design, too, checking out the insides of it, very unusual bracing setup, almost makes for a "floating" top. I'm really liking it thus far, certainly loud enough to hear acoustically (as long as you're not playing with anything really really loud). Going to slap some TI Acousticores on it and see what it sounds like - not that the default strings are at all bad, just more of the clanky bronze "typical acoustic bass guitar" sound than I really want, looking for warmer and more mwah, more like an upright. Anyway, nice bass, cheap enough to not have to totally "baby" it, but seems like quite a player. The built in tuner in the preamp section is a nice touch, too.

This is a fantastic bass. I have played for 14 years and this is my first acoustic. I couldn't be happier with my purchase, reminds me of playing my upright. The sound is full and warm, with great action right out of the box. Can't wait to gig with it.

I was looking for a 5 string bass to learn on and this met all my expectations.Have had it six weeks and still play every day.It is a bit on the heavy side but sounds great.