Boulder Creek Musical Instruments was established by Mike Shellhammer and is still a family-owned business. Mike founded the company to develop instruments using his idea for a Suspended Bracing System (SBS) which supports the string tension of an acoustic instrument while leaving the soundboard intact. And, moving the center sound hole to the side of his guitars gave them more soundboard area increasing sound projection. It also made them easier to hear while playing (by virtue of the sound hole being closer to the player's ear). These ideas were the foundation stones of Boulder Creek Guitars. Today Boulder Creek offer guitars, basses and ukuleles. Some of their instruments are made in the USA others in China.