Vitar demo record!
Hey check out this fun toy that Santa Ebay brought me today – An original Vi-Tar demo record. The narrator is great… some of that will definitely be making it into the next session my band records… but there’s some music on there as well. They were obviously proud of it’s ability to play classical music, but the bit of jazz at the end of side 1 and the rock example on side 2 are definitely more fitting to the Vi-Tar sound.
Vi-Tar Demonstration Record - Side 1 Vi-Tar Demonstration Record - Side 2.
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4-pole jack connection
http://s12.postimg.org/yh3hw788t/4c_jack.jpg
Great site. I own one piece of Vitar violin, I got from a friend which bought it in 1974. On battery box sheme I think is a mistake. Another possibility is that cable connection during production time was changed. Here is the link how 4-pole jack should be soldered:
@Mark
The album arrived last night and is very good condition with only a few crackles and pops. I really enjoyed it although more Vitar would have been great! John also has quite a pleasant singing voice. Nice pic of his/your Vitar on the back cover too!
Ah nice… you inspired me to put my copy on. I feel like I’m in a 70s movie.
I have just ordered the John Blair album “Southern Love” from a record company in Las Vegas. It’s on 12″ vinyl, supposed to be almost mint. Hope it survives the UPS trip to Australia! Looking forward to hearing it!
Heh funny the fuzzy pizzicato was some of my favorite stuff in there 🙂 I do a fair bit of pizz with my band playing 3 over 2 against a delay pedal to get some really neat synth-sounding arpeggiated stuff going. In the classical bits you can definitely hear the transitions between strings, which is a bit jarring – especially when he moves up to the E string.
The seller was just a record dealer I think… the funny part was that he had no idea what a Vitar was, and he included a link to my Flickr page which he must have googled… I was the only bidder, but if anyone else had bid I was going to beg the seller for their contact info. 🙂
That’s a great find! Do you know if the seller was a Vitar player? It sounds very good. I am amazed after listening to my Yamaha how far ahead of it’s time the Vitar really was. I think the Vitar had a purer and less raspy tone. I could have done without the fuzz pizzicato though!