E-bow anyone?

[blademaster2]

Not sure if this is an 'effect' for a different forum, but really it is not IMHP so I am writing this here in the coffee shop.

I have for years been tempted to acquire an E-bow, and finally did. These have been advertised since at least the mid-seventies, and I tried one briefly in the eighties but they were far less affordable then (and I had far less disposable income, too).

I have heard of a few bands that have used them, but they appear to not be prevalent. That surprises me a little since everyone wants more sustain and these things make it infinite.

These gadgets are tricky to use, but to get the howling feedback of a note, or to create a smooth legato passage at a low volume this is a pretty impressive device. It also works fairly well on an acoustic guitar. It does take some practice to get a note going. I am not yet proficient in changing the excited string to another one without causing unwanted sounds of the plastic body touching the other strings.

Are there any folks out there who have any tips on the use of these?

[reTrEaD]

Doesn't fit nicely anywhere, so when in doubt the Coffee Shop is always a good call.

I never bothered with one because they were sorta pricey. Now at around a c-note, they'll probably get more users. Only one string at a time, but that's a blessing as well as a curse. I just might have to try one now.

There's a wiki article on the e-bow and they list some of instances where they've been used in commercial recordings.

[newey]

Way back in the early days, before my time here, there was this discussion of the E-bow:

guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/2962/bow

Apart from what was said, this thread reads like a who's who of the early members- Mini Strat Maine, Dunklefalke, mlrpa and others. Most of those folks should be in a "Where are they now?" post.

There is a bit of loss of continuity in the thread because one of the older members, Deep Blue, changed his screen name to The Ripper. Deep Blue had exited following a vitriolic discussion that got way too personal, but then later returned, having renamed himself.

[blademaster2]

Hey Newey,

Thanks.

I saw that old thread after I posted, but I still am interested in user's advice on techniques using this gadget.

It is sensitive (as one would expect) to the distance of the string, and that includes bending. That makes it harder to not pull the string away from the active region when bending (and I bend and do vibrato all of the time). I find, contrary to the instructions, that holding back toward the bridge give less movement from bends while still permitting the sense/excitation loop to operate.

It is also sometimes difficult to get a note going, even with a good hammer-on to start it up, but then it 'kicks in' and goes wild and gives such a movement that the pup actually starts to distort (this sounds very unique, as it is something I cannot do using a pick). It certainly makes a good 'Hendrix-like' howl.

I have heard people say you can wave it across the strings and get an arpeggio effect, but I have not been able to get it to respond that readily (yet).