Wow! That one word sums it up. Kudos to Rob Elrick!
I have two Cort NJS5's in Black. They are stunning to look at and even more impressive to play. Here are my thoughts on this bass--
I retired a few years ago due to cancer and had time on my hands to finally focus on a quest for the perfect bass for me. As a result of this and having a wonderful, understanding wife, I have had and maintained a spreadsheet on the attributes of over seventy 5-string basses (I am now down to less than 20). As a wise man once said, "It not hoarding if it is guitars."
Well, when I first read about the Cort Elrick NJS5 basses, it seemed to check all the boxes for what I wanted in a bass and more, i.e., relatively lightweight, a truss rod adjustment at the base/heel of the neck, a zero fret, an angled-headstock with a straight shot across the nut to the tuners without friction from a string tree, a comfortable-thin C neck profile, the ability to accept a very low set-up, a smooth/fast neck, smooth tuners, a top-load bridge for easy string changes, quiet pickups and electronics for recording, no dead spots, an even volume between all strings with a gutsy 5th string (which I routinely tune down to "A") and an impressive sound quality with a pick, fingers or slap style (for me that means fat/meaty/full but articulate old-school lows, clean/punchy mids and crisp/clear/brilliant highs).
OK, I imagine you are thinking that is too good to be true. Well, I have had small sound company on the side for years and have developed a passion for sound quality. After also having had several bass amps, I finally found my perfect reference bass amp that I have set up with an RTA and have complete confidence in when comparing basses (that is another story). The ease of getting the sound that I absolutely love with this bass blew me away! I don't need several sounds and with this bass, I have one favorite setting that I can leave it set on and switch between fingers/pick or slap without changing anything.
Note: I have been experimenting with holding a pick between my thumb and index finger all the time and using my middle and ring fingers exclusively for finger style. This allows me to play the higher strings with a pick for an articulate sound while playing the lower strings finger-style for full lows. It is starting to feel natural and seems to work amazing well for some songs (e.g., "We're an American Band").
Now, for the so good stuff about the Cort Elrick NJS5--
In my opinion, the only thing here is the not-so-good fret work that I found on both of my NJS5's. They both had some fret sprouting with sharp ends and played ok but could definitely benefit from a good fret leveling. Other than that, the workmanship was outstanding and appeared flawless. I took both of them to Kenny Marshall, the well know and respected "Fret Doctor" and he did an amazing job on them as usual. That put the icing on the cake and made me smile from ear-to-ear when I was able to set it up with a 1mm string height for the first and second strings and 1.5mm-1.75mm string height for the 4th and 5th strings at the 12th fret without any fret buzz!
When I played it for the first time after the fret leveling and set-up, I really didn't want to put it down and didn't until I had played along with several songs we had recorded. For me, I am pretty sure my search is over and all I can say is, "Wow!"
