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Posted

Dan Hartman's self-designed $5000 1974 silver “Bass Suit” had controls on the sleeve.

I found this on the Vintage Weird FB group. Does anybody here know any more about Dan Hartman and his wearable 4-string?

FB_IMG_1588357375344.jpg

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Posted (edited)

Dan Hartman started out as a member of Edgar Winter's band and then Montrose (if I remember correctly) before changing direction and becoming a leading light in the emerging disco scene. He had a big hit with Instant Replay and wrote Relight My Fire (yep, the same song that Take That covered and had a massive hit with) and co-wrote Living In America for James Brown. 

No idea about the wearable bass though...! 

Unfortunately, he died from an AIDS related illness in the early 90s. 

Edited by peteb
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Posted

A sort of grope suit with one of those deep bass vibration units that Bass Direct are selling installed. Would need to be machine washable mind you!

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  • 3 years later...
Posted

Edgar Winter bassist and songwriter Dan Hartman (who played on Edgar Winter's monster rock hit "Frankenstein" from 1973) designed this $5000 silver “Bass Suit” in 1974. The controls are on the sleeve attached to an aluminum plate. The guitar neck ends in a Crescent Moon and the suit itself has moons on it.

“The bass suit was actually one of the first cordless guitars in existence, and I invented it. It was built right into this silver bodysuit so it looked as though the bass was coming out of my body, and the volume and tone knobs were on the sleeve.” “When it worked it was great, but the tunings were a little strange, plus I can’t tell you how many times I got shocked. It wound up being just one more thing that we had to worry about on tour: ‘Well, I wonder if this will work tonight.’ After a while I couldn’t stand wearing it anymore so I gave it up.

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