User:RJMoore3/Coral electric sitar

In 1966, MCA Inc. purchased the Danelectro Corporation from Nathan Daniel. MCA created the Coral brand (named after one of their record labels) in a bid to broaden Danelectro's budget image with a more mainstream product line. While the instruments were finished in Danelectro's Neptune NJ facility using Danelectro electronics and necks, the bodies were made by the Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Company of Japan. Unlike the more budget-oriented Masonite and vinyl Danelectro line, the Coral line had both solid and arched hollow bodies employing traditional solid wood construction and high gloss finishes. The Coral line was priced at a premium over the Danelectro models. While Danelectro pricing started at $45.00 for the Convertible model with several under $100.00, Coral's least expensive Hornet model started at $139.00 and went up to $295.00 for the Electric Sitar.

Guitars:

Solid body:

Hornet 6-string: 2 or 3 pickups, standard or vibrato tailpiece.

Scorpion 12-string: 2 or 3 pickups, standard tailpiece.

Deluxe Bass: 4 string, 2 pickups.

Wasp Bass: 4 or 6 string, 2 pickups.

Hollow body:

Firefly 6-string: 2 pickups, standard or Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.

Firefly 12-string: 2 pickups, standard tailpiece.

Firefly Bass: 4-string, 2 pickups.

Longhorn 6-string: 2 pickups, standard tailpiece.

Longhorn 12-string: 2 pickups, standard tailpiece.

Longhorn Bass: 4-string, 2 pickups.

Teardrop 6-string: 2 pickups, standard tailpiece.

Fiddle Bass: 4-string, 2 pickups.

Combo 6-string: 2 pickups, standard or Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.

Combo Bass: 4-string, 2 pickups.

Electric Sitar: 2 pickups for the primary 6 strings plus 1 pickup for the 12 drones.

Bellzouki 12-string: Offered originally in the Danelecro lineup, the modified teardrop 2 pickup Bellzouki also appears in the Coral catalog.

Amplifiers:

Thor 100: Separate 100-watt tube amplifier head with 2 channels, one plain, one with reverb and tremelo effects. Three separate cabinets were available with either three 15", six 12" or six 10" speakers.

Stentor Bass 100: Separate 100-watt tube amplifier head with a single channel. Three separate cabinets were available with either three 15", six 12" or six 10" speakers.

Jupiter 50: Separate 50-watt tube amplifier head with 2 channels, one plain, one with reverb and tremelo effects. Two separate cabinets, one with three 12" speakers arranged vertically in a column or one with three 12" speakers in a group.

Neptune 25: Separate 25-watt tube amplifier head with 2 channels, one plain, one with reverb and tremelo effects. Two separate cabinets, one with two 12" speakers arranged vertically in a column or one with a single 15" speaker.

Strobe lights: Units were available in a Master/Slave configuration. Master unit had a foot or hand control for on/off and strobe speed. Slave unit synchronized without wires.

Electric Sitar:

The most famous instrument of the Coral line was the Electric Sitar. George Harrison's interest in the sitar first surfaced in the Beatles music with the Rubber Soul album. The distinctive sound of the sitar on Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) immediately caught the public's ear, but the instrument's playing difficulty and cumbersome size inspired the noted session guitarist Vincent Gambella, aka Vinnie Bell in collaboration with Nathan Daniel to create an instrument that mimicked the signature buzzing and whirring sound of the sitar but one that was tuned to a western musical scale and immediately accessible to a guitarist. The resulting instrument was covered under U.S Patent 212,389, issued October 8th, 1968 and was marketed under the Coral division of Danelectro.

The "Sitarmatic" Bridge:

The distinctive sound of the Coral sitar was the result of the special "Sitarmatic" bridge covered under a filing (Ser. No 683,180) with the U.S Patent office on November 15th, 1967. When properly adjusted, the sloped nature of the bridge allowed standard guitar strings to buzz, mimicking the traditional sitar sound. The bridge is composed of two parts; the first is a notched metal strip across the tail end which holds the strings in their proper position in the same way that a conventional guitar bridge does. The "sitar" part of the bridge extends forward in a very shallow arc, much the same as a barrel turned on its side. The strings rest on the "sitar" part of the bridge and intonation is achieved by tilting the bridge. The entire bridge structure is mounted with three, spring loaded adjustment screws arranged in a triangle with one screw next to the notched metal string strip, located in between the 3rd and 4th string and recessed below the surface plus two additional screws at the front (near the pickup) outboard of the strings. By mounting the three screws on springs, the bridge floats independent of the body. This floating actions allows the entire bridge assembly to be moved up/down for string height and rocked back/forth for intonation.

The Drone Strings:

Above the six standard strings was an addition set of 13 drone strings, with their own pickup. Tuning was accomplished with metal friction pegs, similar to the ones found on autoharps and tuned with a special tool called a hammer. The pickup is adjusted for tone and volume independent of the rest of the instrument. Strings and tuning:

The nature of the Sitarmatic bridge dictated that the six guitar strings used be a different mix than the ones usually supplied with a guitar. In a traditional mix of guitar strings, looking at the neck the strings are arranged left (low) to right (high) E,A,D,G,B,E with the lower three strings, E(6), A(5) and D(4) wound and the upper three, G(3), B(2) and E(1) are left plain. Because the bridge was most effective delivering the buzzing sitar sound using smaller gauge and plain strings, the factory supplied a set of strings that was adapted from the standard set. The factory set duplicated the high E(1) string to be used in the E(1) and B(2) positions, and then each of the other strings in the standard set was used down one position, i.e., the normal G(3) string was used in the D(4) slot, the D(4) was used in the A(5) slot and the A(5) string was used in the low E(6) slot. This meant that the largest wound string, the low E in a conventional string set, was not used. The actual tuning was done to standard guitar E,A,D,G,B,E. The factory string set included the proper strings plus three spares.

The 13 drone strings were supplied by the factory in a special set with six spares, tuned in a half step chromatic scale from E to E. The low E (farthest left string facing the instrument) is tuned to E above middle C, or the E created on the 12th fret on the E(1) string.

Playing the electric star:

The factory manual recommends that the bridge pickup be used turned to maximum "to emphasize the sitar sound" and the neck pickup turned off. The drone strings were intended to vibrate sympathetically:

The drone strings respond to the vibrations of the main strings transmitted through the sitar body. The pitch of the plucked main string will cause sympathetic vibration of that particular drone string which is in tune with the main string frequency or its harmonic. (User manual)

A Strum across the sympathetic drone strings from top to bottom or reversed, produced a glissando.

Use and Limitations:

The design of the Sitarmatic bride inherently makes accurate intonation (music) a problem. To get correct intonation up and down the entire neck, the distance from the nut at the top of the neck and the bridge has to be variable for each string. This can be seen in modern guitar bridge design, where each string rests on its own fore/aft adjustable point allowing the overall length of the plucked portion of the string to be varied. Because all of the strings come off of the Sitarmatic bridge at the same point, no individual fore/aft adjustment is possible and notes played in the higher register of the neck tend to not be in pitch from the low E string to high E string. This intonation issue meant that the electric sitar sounded best in tune when played on the frets closest to the nut or if played up near the 12th fret, on the G,B and high E strings only

In practical use, the sympathetic strings were of minor value, as was the tone of the neck pickup. Most players simply set the bridge pickup to full treble and turned off the neck pickup because the instrument was best utilized as a solo lead instrument where individual notes were played. Chords strummed on the instrument had a muddy quality, making the instrument unusable in the rhythm guitar position in pop music. In fact, the narrow tonal nature of the instrument prompted the Danelectro company to produce the "Baby Sitar" under the Danelectro brand to broaden its appeal. With its gourd shape, single bridge pickup and deleted drone strings at a much lower price, the Danelectro Baby Sitar sold for $139.00 while the Coral Electric Sitar was priced at $289.00.