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Navy Aircraft Carrier Bass

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#41
We just recently wrapped up our NASA theme guitar build and will soon get underway with our Navy bass project for 2013.

Meeting with Navy Captain and legendary NASA veteran James A. (Jim) Lovell serves as a nice bridge and transition from one project on to the next.

Lovell of course was the commander of ill fated Apollo 13 as well as Apollo 8 and two Gemini missions.

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#43
Doner Designs said:
We just recently wrapped up our NASA theme guitar build and will soon get underway with our Navy bass project for 2013.

Meeting with Navy Captain and legendary NASA veteran James A. (Jim) Lovell serves as a nice bridge and transition from one project on to the next.

Lovell of course was the commander of ill fated Apollo 13 as well as Apollo 8 and two Gemini missions.

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One more killer design! I love this one too! And getting the signature on it is icing on the NASA cake!
 
#50
We are testing the Navy bass controls layout and a few other ideas on this project for that is for personal and exhibition purposes.

I call it the Old 442 bass. Old because the body is from my first bass (Squier VM J). Every other part has been replaced. Allparts neck, Dimarzio pickups (three Area J's and a Willpower Neck). So - Old body, 4 pickups, 4 band Audere preamp, 2 coils per pickup.

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#53
You're already too far along on this to change course, but have you thought about how nicely a headless bass could be adapted to the aircraft carrier theme? Not a Steinberger-style cricket bat, but something more like a Spirit XZ. Still probably not enough body real estate to decorate, though.
 
#54
Sid Fang said:
You're already too far along on this to change course, but have you thought about how nicely a headless bass could be adapted to the aircraft carrier theme? Not a Steinberger-style cricket bat, but something more like a Spirit XZ. Still probably not enough body real estate to decorate, though.
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We toyed with that idea as well as a paddle headstock. Also pondered a 6 string which would be better in terms of scale and thought about neck thru with a theme-shaped body.

Choice to go more standard had to do with cost, ability to get parts from multiple sources, parts already on hand and the fact I have a new day job and did not want to bite off too much.
 
#56
JennySuzuki said:
If you're still planning to put a hull number out on the headstock, keep in mind that it should match the one on the pickguard.
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Yes indeed. I need to print out some updated markings. It will be number CV38 Shangri-La which is significant in connection with the naval aviator who will sign it. The number will either be inlaid at the first fret or engraved on the headstock, possibly with inlay or paint. We will probably go with the headstock since its a fretless and any inlays that go under strings would have to be perfect (radiused, etc).
 
#57
The control setup on this is great and fits the cavity quite well. We will use a very similar setup with the Navy bass except that it will only have one pair of J pickups and the hidden mudbucker will get its own jack and passive volume. Only the J's will go through the Audere. In Old 442 the two bridge pickups share a volume control and the middle+neck share the other. We are now ready to move forward on the carrier during spring and summer.

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