Navy Bass

Our Navy Aircraft Carrier theme bass was been donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) of Illinois for auction at the One Dream Gala at McCormick Place on December 13, 2014.

We were thrilled that Captain James A. Lovell, US Navy, Retired (and Apollo 13 Commander) agreed to sign this special guitar. Watch this inspiring clip from the Apollo 13 movie to see why we named this bass after CV-38, the USS Shangri-La, and how it is connected with Captain Lovell and his Navy career.

One of our longtime sponsors was more like a partner in this project. Axetreme Creations Custom Shop donated the time, materials and a lot of the creative work related to the pickguard and the neck inlays, both critical elements of this project. Without our friend Nick and his team at Axetreme, this bass guitar would not have been possible. A complete list of friends and suppliers who were a part of this project are listed at the bottom of this page.

Three demo videos, a two page Info Sheet and a complete User Guide are attached as pdf files at the bottom of this page. Complete specifications and user instructions are included in these attachments.

Captain Lovell Signs the Bass Guitar at his office in Lake Forest, Illinois

We visited with accessories sponsor Guitar Center and photography sponsor Sweetwater Sound in August

Studio photography courtesy of Sweetwater Sound in Fort Wayne, Indiana

(Some of the photos did not shrink very well - Click here to view Doner-Aircraft - downloadable high-resolution photos)

Richard takes her out for a test drive in our basement. The Acoustic brand amp from Guitar Center is part of the package.

A few in-process photos here

Parts ready for final assembly. Note that the neck is from Allparts, one of the most respected makers of top quality bodies and necks.

One of our longtime sponsors, Axetreme Creations Custom Shop, is very heavily invested in this build. Axetreme donated the time, materials and a lot of the creative work related to the pickguard details and the neck inlays, both critical elements of this project. Without Nick and his team at Axetreme, this bass guitar would not have been possible. Nick tells us that the neck inlay was far more difficult to pull off than expected. He and his team endured a lot of stress and spent almost a full day working to get the inlay perfectly straight because even the slightest error would be made obvious by the straight-edge reference point provided by the strings.

Here is a list of sponsors who helped make the aircraft carrier bass a reality:

• • Captain James A. Lovell, US Navy, Retired and Apollo 13 Commander (signature)

  • Axetreme Creations (custom neck inlays, pickguard, back plates and sage advice) http://www.axetremecreations.com/

  • Audere Audio Engineering (4 band Pro-Z preamp) https://www.audereaudio.com/index.htm

  • Babicz Full Contact Hardware (string-through bridge) http://www.fullcontacthardware.com/

  • Bass Strings Online (custom string set)

  • Bob Verner (cash donation for body and sage advice)

  • Best Bass Gear (pickups) http://www.bestbassgear.com/

  • Cliff Ulrich (cash donation)

  • Doner Designs (labor & cash for unsponsored parts)

  • Farndurk (mini knobs) http://www.farndurk.com/

  • Goran Pavylk (cash donation)

  • Hipshot Products (Xtender drop tuner)

  • Guitar Center - Villa Park, Illinois (accessories) http://stores.guitarcenter.com/Villa-Park

  • JENZ Machine Heads (tuning machines) http://jenztuners.com/

  • Kathy Baker (referral to JDRF)

  • LazrArt (neck plates) http://lazrart.com/guitar_plates.htm

  • Sweetwater Sound (professional studio photography) http://www.sweetwater.com/

THANK YOU FRIENDS/SPONSORS/DONORS FOR MAKING THIS PROJECT POSSIBLE!!

Further information can be viewed on the pages and links referred to in the Site Index at left and on our Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/donerdesigns .

If you would like to help cover the materials cost of the Navy bass please visit our FundRazr site and click on "Give". Here's a link: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/fSSdc ,

For in-kind donations of parts please email us at steve@donerdesigns.org.

Before leaving this page, be sure to check out these videos and the informational materials attached

One of the photos from Sweetwater Sound is our new logo and icon/avatar for social media