David Sarser (January 31, 1921 – June 6, 2013)^[1] was an American musician, audio engineer and electronics designer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri,^[1] he played violin with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the 1950s under Arturo Toscanini and worked with Les Paul in the design of the first 8 track recording deck (built for Mr. Paul by Ampex for his home studio.)^[2] He stopped playing the violin after his Stradivarius was stolen in 1962.^[3][4]

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.^[1]