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Navy Aircraft Carrier Bass

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Doner Designs

Doner Designs

Steve Doner
Jun 2, 2012
5,784
6,819
Metro Chicago Area
www.donerdesigns.org
Disclosures
Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
#1
After we finish up our current NASA guitar project we will begin our 2014 project which is to build a Navy Aircraft Carrier theme bass guitar.

Rough mock up here shows how we will use an unlined fretless neck to represent the outbound runway. The inbound runway will be painted on the body. Images on the pickguard will depict planes on the deck.

Progress will be posted on our facebook page and here.

This bass will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for auction at their Chance of a Lifetime Ball in December of 2014 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

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#4
There's a common joke about wide spaced six string basses that "you could land an aircraft on that thing" or "the fingerboard is the size of of an aircraft carrier".

Me thinks you should make this a sixer instead to take full advantage of that joke :D
 
#5
shrimpflea said:
Very cool...maybe the back could look like the bottom of the ship?
Click to expand...

Thanks!

What would you do with graphics to make it look like the bottom?

We were thinking about putting a propeller image on the back and maybe an anchor. We might also include some lettering like "US Navy" and/or "USS Enterprise".

Recent carriers have been named after presidents and we do not want to get political, so Enterprise seemed like a good choice...

"On 1 December 2012, during the presentation of a pre-recorded speech at the inactivation ceremony for Enterprise (CVN-65), U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that CVN-80 would be named Enterprise. She will be the ninth ship and the third aircraft carrier in the history of the United States Navy to bear the name."
 
#6
3234718 said:
Is the amplug meant to be a gun or a radio tower?
Click to expand...

Its a good sign that you figured that out. :-) An earlier mock-up which included the control tower as an image in the PG drew some puzzled comments.

I'm trying to figure out how to do the control tower as a 3D removable item, The amplug by itself is a good start, but it needs something else which is why it has plugs hanging out of it. I was just experimenting.

If we use an amplug we will probably paint it to match the ship.
 
#7
LowB-ing said:
There's a common joke about wide spaced six string basses that "you could land an aircraft on that thing" or "the fingerboard is the size of of an aircraft carrier".

Me thinks you should make this a sixer instead to take full advantage of that joke :D
Click to expand...

I had not heard that joke before but it makes sense and I love the idea! We will have to look into the cost and availability of 6 string bodies and necks.

We could do a 5 string, but then we would have to do two dotted lines instead of one because the D string would be in the middle. That would actually be more authentic but would double the inlay work.

The other thing I was thinking was to use a P bass neck since they are a little wider, but even that limits the sourcing options because most fretless necks seem to be J types. Probably would still use a J body because of the extra space in the control cavity area.
 
#8
Doner Designs said:
I had not heard that joke before but it makes sense and I love the idea! We will have to look into the cost and availability of 6 string bodies and necks.
Click to expand...

For good aircraft carrier proportions you could start with a through-body 6 string fretless neck and build body wings around it.

That way you'd be able to incorporate things like pickup location, control knob location, even body shape, into the design.

If you started with an unfinished headstock you might be able to shape it to look like an airplane coming off/on the end of the runway.
 
#9
lz4005 said:
For good aircraft carrier proportions you could start with a through-body 6 string fretless neck and build body wings around it.

That way you'd be able to incorporate things like pickup location, control knob location, even body shape, into the design.

If you started with an unfinished headstock you might be able to shape it to look like an airplane coming off/on the end of the runway.
Click to expand...

Those are cool ideas! I'm pretty sure I don't have the woodworking skills to take on a neck through like you describe, but have thought about buying a body blank with the neck pocket routed and maybe the bridge drilled.

My hesitation is that it would become an uncomfortable piece to play and want it to be a usable instrument, not just a novelty or wall hanging.

The headstock idea is an interesting one. Alternatives to that would be to do an airplane inlay or, easiest yet, do an image on the PG of a plane entering the takeoff runway.

I could not do an airplane inlay, but I may need to partner with somebody on the neck anyway (to do the lines). I may try to take that on but am not sure.

Thanks for your comments and ideas!
 
#15
If you got a neck through blank from Carvin, you could easily add "wings" to the headstock, and as long as you were careful not to induce neck dive, it could end up being a really cool piece.

I've been watching this one closely on Facebook, because as a child my parents took us kids to tour an aircraft carrier. I've always had a certain sense of wonder over big ships and planes. Watching this build has been really entertaining.
 
#18
Rip Topaz said:
If you got a neck through blank from Carvin, you could easily add "wings" to the headstock, and as long as you were careful not to induce neck dive, it could end up being a really cool piece.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. A Carvin 6 string fretless neck through is perfect for this.

Using a 4 string neck is completely the wrong proportion.
 
#20
cirrus4string said:
I spent more time on those things than I can remember .. And 4 yrs on CVN 65 Enterprise.. I am not sure about this.. Naa joking it's cool.. But I was gone a lot on those...
Click to expand...

If we used the runway lights idea with LED's they would go on the body, not the neck, right? In other words, I was thinking that the angled runway, which we would paint on the body, is primarily inbound and the straight one that we would put on the neck is primarily outbound.

I figured you would know best since you have been there. :-)
 
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