maugorn@c3pe.UUCP (Steve "Maugorn" Haug) (03/04/88)
Does anyone out there remember a device called an E-Bow.
This was a small box that one held in one's hand, and when activated
and held near an electric guitar string, would vibrate it for you
via some resonance property. It was battery operated. The sound
it would produce would be similar to bowing a string, because the
attack of the sound would be a slow rise in volume from zero rather
than the sharp immediate sound of picking.
Does anyone still make these devices?
How much does one go for?
Are they available anywhere?
How do they work?
I have a theory about the last question. I believe that these
boxes work much like feedback from speaker. They emit some waveform
that resonates the string and then causes this resonance to be picked
up as sound in the pickup. The trick is that the guitar can still be
played, and the notes still sound, so it would have to be some wide
range of resonances that it produces. Does it just induce a current
that then is influenced by whatever frequency the string is tuned/fingered
for? I have encountere effects like this playing with a guitar that
had part of it's output piped into a pillow speaker that I held nearby.
However, the E-Bow is in no way directly linked to the guitar's output.
If I am correct about how it works, might I be able to build my
own by hooking up a VCO to a spare pickup and using it? Or is a
electromagnet of some sort enough?
Thanks in advance?
Maugorn
Please include E-mail in your replies, since we don't get as much
news as we would like in these boondoks.gypsy@c3pe.UUCP (the virtually invulnerable gypsyroach) (03/04/88)
well, mr. maug, here's what i know. they supposedly work by some sort of
magnetic means of vibrating the string. i seem to recall that *someone*
still makes them, but i forget who. they were real popular in the early
70's, but when they fell from favor people pretty much stopped making them.
the genuine article (i.e. the Genuine E-Bow (tm) ) goes for about $150, IF
you can find someone who has one they are willing to part with. i don't
how much the current ones run, if indeed they are still being made.
can anyone add to or correct my info.? inquiring minds want to know...
gypsy @ ..!decuac.dec.com!c3pe
"Does it now seem worth all the color of skies,
To see the earth through painted eyes?"
-- Nick Drakempmst1@cisunx.UUCP (Michael P. Metlay) (03/06/88)
In article <1283@c3pe.UUCP>, maugorn@c3pe.UUCP (Steve "Maugorn" Haug) writes: > Does anyone out there remember a device called an E-Bow. Yes; I played in a band with a guiatrist who loved them when I was in college. > Does anyone still make these devices? Nope, they're rare as hen's teeth these days. > How much does one go for? Upwards of $100, unless you're lucky enough to find a foon who doesn't know what he's got.|-> > Are they available anywhere? Advertise in the guitar trades; maybe you'll get lucky. > How do they work? Via an electromagnetic oscillating field. The E-Bow won't work on gut or nylon strings, to the best of my knowledge... it set up a sort of resonance in metal strings, by acting as a driving oscillator (insert physics lesson on second-order harmonic oscillation here|->), and had only to be brought near the string to begin driving it. Neat device; an alternative (less clean but more accessible, perhaps) is the Gizmotron, a motordriven thing that mounts on the bridge, and touches a rotating wheel to the string to start it vibrating (for a similar "bowed" effect). Kevin Godley and Lol Creme invented the Gizmo when they were with 10cc, and you can still find those around too sometimes. Hope that answers your questions OK. -- Mike Metlay nuclear physicist, electronic musician, Xpander Users' Group METLAY@PITTVMS.BITNET founder, MegaTraveller coauthor, indie comic metlay@vms.cis.pittsburgh.edu collector, Illuminati/Erisian. Fnord! PO Box 81175, Pittsburgh, PA 15217-0675 DISCLAIMER: These MY opinions bro'.
ajm7y@babbage.acc.virginia.edu (Aaron Margosis) (03/07/88)
You can still get a new E-Bow. Bill Nelson wanted one, found them
unavailable, and talked the former manufacturer into making them
again. This can't be rare, because I've seen the device and the
marketing info (including "how it works") here in Charlottesville,
Virginia.
The store where I saw them:
Heinz Musitronics
8 University Shopping Ctr
Charlottesville, VA 22903
804-977-2797
--
--Aaron
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