{"id":434,"date":"2019-01-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/?post_type=bass&p=434"},"modified":"2026-09-13T08:46:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:46:49","slug":"bass-of-the-week-doner-designs-time-machine-bass","status":"publish","type":"bass","link":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/?bass=bass-of-the-week-doner-designs-time-machine-bass","title":{"rendered":"Bass of the Week: Doner Designs Time Machine Bass"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DonerDoner Designs always comes up with awesome basses for a good cause, and it looks like this one will need an amp rated at 1.21 gigawatts. Steve and Richard Doner were inspired to build the Time Machine bass back in 2015 when the \u201cBack to the Future\u201d movies were popular on television again. <\/p>\n

The Chicago-based father and son team functions as a part-time charity operation and built the labor of love with the intention of auctioning it to benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson\u2019s Research. <\/p>\n

Though they avoid direct references to the movie series, the bass has \u201cflashing lights, a selectable destination year display, a device resembling a flux capacitor and a complex array of electronic components sure to please fans of the time travel entertainment genre including those who don\u2019t play bass.\u201d As you can imagine, the process in crafting the instrument was very time intensive. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept was a natural fit because Richard was in engineering school at the time,\u201d Doner writes. \u201cThis enabled him to design and build the custom circuit boards required for the various time machine circuits. Constructing all of the components, making everything fit into the bass body and overcoming various challenges ended up taking roughly 300 hours over the course of more than three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Doner Time Machine bass is crafted from a Warmoth body and neck and features a Nordstrand pickup, an Audere preamp, a Babicz bridge, and Hipshot tuners. Although it wasn\u2019t designed to be a practical instrument for regular use, it does play like any other premium bass. <\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to initiating a sale process, Doner Designs is seeking to increase awareness about the guitar and the fundraising purpose to help maximize proceeds for the ultimate beneficiary,\u201d Doner adds. \u201c[We are] hopeful that Christopher Lloyd and\/or Michael J. Fox might agree to sign the bass which could add additional value in a fundraising auction. When details of a sale process are available, Doner Designs will make an announcement through its social media pages and website.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Doner Designs always comes up with awesome basses for a good cause, and it looks like this one will need an amp rated at 1.21 gigawatts. Steve and Richard Doner were inspired to build the\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1618,"template":"","meta":[],"builder":[],"class_list":["post-434","bass","type-bass","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/bass\/434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/bass"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/bass"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"builder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bassoftheweek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fbuilder&post=434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}