NBD: Time Machine Bass

[TNCreature]

I love everything about this.

 

[johnson79]

Really cool, one of my favorite movies of all time!
1.21 gigawatts?!?!?!?!?!

 

[Spidey2112]

We plan to sell it in a charity auction and donate the proceeds to the Michael J. Fox Parkinson's Foundation.

Awesome, Steve! Looks great (as usual!)

 

[Spidey2112]

I was gonna ask, but I always ask and then someone makes fun of me for asking.

That's just plain silly...

... I see what you mean...

 

[HappyFunTime69]

Holy moly... that bass is epically beautiful, and the selling for charity warms my heart. Wish I had the coin to bid on that bad boy!!

 

[Wanker_Joe]

This is the greatest bass I've ever seen.

 

[bassliner50]

Can it make the strings last forever? Or the gig for that matter?

 

[bass40hz]

That's awesome, I would rock the heck out of that bass. I hope you get the 15K you estimate out of this plus another 15K...my Mom has Parkinson's so this is one that is close to my heart. Rock on.

 

[Kukulkan61]

Nice job looks like a lot of time went into this no pun intended, great cause too congratulations

 

[Doner Designs]

Links to the first two publishers of yesterday's press release:

Doner Designs Completes Custom Time Machine Bass Guitar for Charity Sale

Doner Designs Completes Custom Time Machine Bass Guitar for Charity Sale | Bass Gear Magazine

For Bass Player Magazine I can't find an email address to send it to.

 

[Doner Designs]

What does it weigh?

Not trying to make it light, I was guessing it would be around 15 pounds, but it came it at just under 11 pounds. Not sure how that happened. I think my personal basses are heavier than that.

 

[Doner Designs]

When the producer asks you to bring a P with flats and you show up with this.

That would be hilarious. Worth getting a double gig bag and carrying two just to see the reaction.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

I love seeing the bass guitar as an art piece. Great concept, great execution!

 

[Doner Designs]

Nice job looks like a lot of time went into this no pun intended, great cause too congratulations

Thanks! Regarding the "time", it's tough to be accurate in estimating since the hours were spread over three years of weekends but my rough guess would be 300 hours. It was a LOT of work and very discouraging at times when we ran into obstacles and problems troubleshooting the custom circuit boards. Actually the biggest challenge might have been making everything fit into the body. Some delays resulted from the fact that I couldn't start routing until Richard was done with the electronics because it was too risky to cut without knowing the space requirements for the boards. The wires and the batteries are mostly on the outside of the body because there was no way to fit them inside. Of course it helps add to the mad scientist look.

 

[Doner Designs]

I love seeing the bass guitar as an art piece. Great concept, great execution!

Coming from you that is high praise. We were also pleased to get some nice comments from Tony Cochran who is probably the best in the business at making steampunk guitars.

 

[Doner Designs]

From the build thread - just over 10lbs.

@Doner Designs I was following the original build thread with great admiration. Such a great build thread and the whole thing is epic. Great work.

Is the wiring on the back a little impractical for playing standing up?

Thanks for your kind words. Regarding the impractical comment, I assume you mean because it has a slab body without a tummy cut or forearm contour (kidding)? Yes, the wires and the fan on the back make it a little uncomfortable, but we couldn't figure out a way to make it as crazy/cool as we wanted and also comfortable/practical. Not the best bass to use for everyday.

 

[TuneIn]

I love it, and major props to you for the charity donation to Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's research foundation! Very Cool!

 

[bordinco90]

drooldrooldrooldrool

 

[Doner Designs]

Does it come with a box?

Very, very cool. How did you hook up with Sweetwater for the photography?

Thank you! Sweetwater made sense for us as a place to approach because they are nearby and they are great at gear photography. We took the initiative after our NASA theme bass guitar got signed by Jim Lovell (Apollo 13 Commander) and Jeff Babicz, who supplies our bridges, encouraged us to get better photography vs the basement rug shots I had done in the past. I wrote a letter to Sweetwater and they very graciously agreed to do it in view of us being a very low volume charity operation. It was a very beneficial on this one because the lights are really hard to get good shots of.

 

[Doner Designs]

Time to get to my day job. I'll check back later to answer any other questions.

Thanks again for all the nice comments!