HOT ON THE HEELS OF THE “RAGA Rock” craze fomented by the appearance of the Indian sitar on the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” and the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it, Black,” the Vinnie Belldesigned Coral Electric Sitar caused quite a ruckus when it first hit the market in 1967. The revolutionary instrument— which features a faux-snakeskin-covered Masonite body, two Danelectro lipstick tube pickups, Bell’s “buzz bridge,” and 13 sympathetic drone strings—eventually appeared on numerous hit records, including the Lemon Pipers’ “Green Tambourine,” Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold,” and Gene Pitney’s “She’s a Heartbreaker” (all featuring Bell), Joe South’s “Games People Play,” the Box Tops’ “Cry Like a Baby,” B.J. Thomas’ “Hooked on a Feeling,” and, of course, the source of this month’s classic riff, Stevie Wonder’s 1970 chart-topping single, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered…
