Chip Ellis, a master custom designer for Fender guitars,
designed this custom guitar for his father, Capt. Ed Ellis,
corporate secretary of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation
in Pensacola. The guitar was inspired by the USS Midway,
the place where their father-and-son connection first began.
June, 16, 2007
SON'S CUSTOM-MADE FENDER HONORS HIS DAD, USS MIDWAY
Special to the
Pensacola News Journal
Father's Day gifts generally include ugly ties or dress shirts that will never
see the light of day.
On the other end of the spectrum are the more priceless items that all fathers
are proud of -
- such as the children's homemade macaroni
picture frame that finds its way to the refrigerator door.
For Capt. Ed Ellis, corporate secretary of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation
in Pensacola,
his child's homemade creation was a little more
impressive -- a custom designed Fender guitar from son Chip,
now a master custom designer for Fender guitars.
The guitar was inspired by the USS Midway, the place where their
father-and-son connection first began.
Ellis spent many years at sea aboard the USS Midway. From 1973-1975, he
was aboard the ship off the coast of
Japan serving as a lieutenant commander. It was
during this time that his son, Chip, came into the world on
Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day, at a U.S. Military
Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan. He was baptized in a chapel on the Midway.
This ship was the first home for the new Ellis
family and was a memory that Ellis and his son would always share.
When Chip was about 12, he received an Ibanez guitar from his father for
Christmas. Very quickly, he caught on to
guitar playing and began tinkering with the sound
and the design of the frames, frets and strings. Little did his dad
know that he had given his son more than just an
instrument -- he had provided him direction toward his calling.
Over the years, Chip has excelled in building some of the most impressive custom
guitars ever seen. At Fender, he
focuses on specialty custom guitar design. His
instruments have been played by such music legends as Credence
Clearwater Revival, U2, Aerosmith and Bruce
Springsteen. His biggest customer among superstar artists is Eddie
Van Halen. Most recently, he created 300 replicas
of Van Halen's famous guitar, Frankenstein. Each meticulously
designed axe will run about $25,000.
A few years ago, Chip began work on what originally was planned to be a Father's
Day present. Thinking about
his father's days aboard the Midway, he
visited the retired vessel in San Diego, took pictures, took note of the
details and set out to build a guitar in honor of
his father and the Midway.
With the call numbers of the ship resting on the body of the Chip Ellis original
and the color and design matching
that of the island structure of the Midway,
the guitar is a tribute to his dad's years of service in the military as well
as his years of service as dad. |