David Sarser (January 31, 1921 – June 6, 2013)
Nolan & Taylor-Howe Funeral Home, Northport, NY was an American musician, audio engineer and electronics designer. Born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, he played

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the 1950s under

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

and worked with

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...

in the design of the first 8 track recording deck (built for Mr. Paul by

Ampex Ampex Data Systems Corporation is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name ''AMPEX'' is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excell ...

for his home studio.) He stopped playing the violin after his

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...

was stolen in 1962.1735 Violin "Lamoureux-Zimbalist"
Archivio della Liuteria Cremonese The stolen (formerly his) instrument, ''Lamoureux'' (1735), has been exhibited in Japan, and it is shown "unassembled" in "Violin Iconography of Antonio Stradivari: Treatises on the Life and Work of the Patriarch of Violinmakers" (Goodkind, 1972). It is widely believed to still reside in Japan. Police believe the instrument was already on a plane to Tokyo by the time it was discovered to be missing from the RCA studio. Sarser died on June 6, 2013, in

Northport, New York Northport is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Huntington, New York, Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, New York (state), New ...

References

American male classical violinists 1921 births 2013 deaths 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American classical violinists {{US-musician-stub