"Paint It Black"

1967 Danelectro/Coral Electric Sitar Model 3S19 Vincent Bell Signature Design.

This all original 'sixties' two-point 'Teardrop with treble-horn' shaped electric sitar weighs just 7.60 lbs. "Solid Center" construction consisting of Masonite top and back on a pine frame. The body is 13 1/2 wide and 1 5/8 inches deep. One-piece mahogany neck with a Brazilian rosewood headstock with a nut width of just over 1 3/4 inches, a scale length of 26 1/4 inches and a thin-to-medium profile. Slab Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 21 original jumbo frets, white dot [position markers and silver side-dot markers. In-line 'Style 3' headstock with horizontal metal "Coral" and silver silk-screened "Sitar". All on-one-side individual two-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. Three-bolt neckplate and micro-adjustment. Two Danelectro 'Lipstick' tube single-coil pickups, height adjustable from the top, with outputs of 3.58k and 3.65k. The thirteen "drone' Strings with metal friction pegs and a single Danelectro 'Lipstick' tube single-coil pickup with an output of 3.64k (also height-adjustable from the top). Six controls, three volume and three tone with black plastic control knobs with ribbed sides and metal tops. Transparent 'flaoting' lucite pickguard with "Vincent Bell / Signature Design / Electric Sitar" in black, secured by three screws. Rosewood "Sitarmatic" bridge for the "play" strings and two rosewood bridges with fretwire saddles for the "drone" strings. Transparent 'floating' lucite bridge cover (with four screws) over both sets of strings. Serial number "1017" stamped in black on underside of neck. There are a few small edge marks on the body, otherwise this fine all original electric sitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. Housed in the original three-latch rectangular, dark gray hardshell case with black felt lining which is in poor (7.00) condition. We believe this to be the actual Electric Sitar that is featured
on page 175 of Doug Tulloch's book Neptune Bound. The Ultimate Danelectro Guitar Guide.

The Coral 'Electric Sitar' is an electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional Indian instrument. They were only produced from 1967 thru 1969.

One of the two or three greatest guitar geeks of the Space Age Pop era, Vinnie Bell will go down in musical history as the inventor of the "watery" guitar sound that was a big fad in instrumental recordings of the late 1960s. The Coral Sitar was used most prominently on The Rolling Stones 1966 hit Paint It Black, Stevie Wonder's 1967 hit I Was MadeTo Love Her, Joe South's 1968 hit Games People Play, The Box Tops 1968 hit Cry Like A Baby, The Lemon Pipers 1968 hit Green Tambourine, Stevie Wonder's 1970 hit Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours, Freda Payne's 1970 hit Band Of Gold, Steely Dan's 1973 hit Do It Again and many many other great bands through the following decades including Steppenwolf, The Clash, The Grass Roots, Guns N'Roses, Metallica, Lenny Kravitz, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Pat Methany, Steve Miller, Eddie Van Halen and The Hollies…