This week we check out an incredible project led by the good folks at Doner Designs, a father and son team that pieces together themed instruments to donate to charity. Steve and Richard Doner started playing bass and guitar, respectively, in 2008 as a bonding experience that grew into tinkering with upgrades and modifications. Now their hobby is benefiting their community.
“Each Doner Designs theme guitar is a one-of-a-kind custom creation,” they share on their website. “The purpose of these guitars is to give encouragement to kids who are fighting serious illness and to raise funds for organizations dedicated to helping sick children. These instruments are fully functional and constructed with premium hardware and electronics sure to please any musician, but are also works of art suitable for display and inspiration. A complete set of quality accessories is included so that even new players can get started immediately.”
Their past builds include Air Force and Army themed instruments, but their latest Navy Bass takes the cake. The instrument is modeled after the U.S.S. Shangri-La aircraft carrier and comes complete with landing stripes, number identification, and fighter plane graphics. It’s named after the same carrier that Navy Captain and Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell famously blind-landed a Banshee fighter plane on in the Sea of Japan. As part of the project, the Doners got Lovell to sign the bass’s body. “We named the aircraft carrier bass after the Shangri-La, CV-38, because of this inspiring story of Hope in the face of adversity,” they explain.
Doner Designs built the bass with an Allparts maple neck with an ebony fingerboard that was inlaid by Axetreme Creations. Its body is an alder Fender jazz body that was donated by Bob Verner, who also helped paint the bass. The electronics include a pair of Nordstrand split-coil NJ4SE pickups donated by BestBassGear.com and an Audere Pro-Z 4-band preamp. A hidden Gibson-style sidewinder pickup sits under the pickguard in the neck position and runs to a separate output, bypassing the preamp. The bass has over a dozen dial and switches to give a control center look, but the coolest addition is a military-style covered toggle switch that kills the J-pickups. Hardware includes a Babicz FCH bridge, JENZ tuners, and a Hipshot BT-1 Xtender key.
The Navy Bass has been donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Illinois and will be auctioned off at the One Dream Gala at McCormick Place on December 13, 2014. For more info, check out the Doner Designs website.
Doner Designs Navy Bass Photo Gallery:
