EBow?

AlexC

ToneControl said:

maybe I need to buy one again:

Love this!

thermionic

ICBM said:

thermionic said:

As a physicist/engineer type, I can't work out how the harmonic mode works. In the normal mode, electromagnetic energy is transferred to the string and it just vibrates at the fundamental frequency, which is detemined by string mass per unit length (gauge), tension, and string length (i.e. where it's fretted). So how does it excite the 2nd harmonic?

I think by using a rectifier frequency-doubler circuit like an octave fuzz, but I could be wrong.

Yes, but how does it know what note it's playing? That's what always puzzled me. 

I think I understand it now. It's not a one-way thing, supplying energy to the string. The E-Bow itself has a simple pickup with feedback into the driving circuit. So whatever it picks up, it feeds that frequency into the driving circuit, which makes the string vibrate more strongly. There has to be some amount of string vibration to start it off, and I guess that moving your fretting hand, bumping the guitar against your body, or energy from the driving circuit at the "wrong" frequency is enough to set it off. Apparently the harmonic mode works by simply reversing the phase of the signal, which cancels out the fundamental, so you hear more of the overtone. Clever.

dogload

Another occasional user here although I seem to use it quite a lot to record. When I'm short of ideas I sometimes whip out the Ebow and bingo!
It's fantastic on bass too. You can get lovely long cello-like drones.

Cirrus

This thread is making me want one again. I think they're great tools just to have hanging around for when you want to try something a bit different. I have to admit that live I only ever used it for the intro to one song out of about 50, but on record it got more use generating ambient/ pad sounds.

Re; the slightly harsh, unpleasant direct sound, I love the way Peter Buck used one loads around Automatic For the People where he embraced that droning, harsh tone.

stickyfiddle

I really like the blue colour of the LED. 

I had one when I was a student but sold it when I needed money for rent. Must buy another some day!

steamabacus

I wouldn't be without mine.

As has been mentioned, there's a bit of a learning curve - it's a whole new instrument. Careful with the treble and volume, it can get a bit feisty. I like to ride a volume pedal when using an e-bow, both to keep on top of the volume but also to control the note envelope. Some ambient delay and reverb helps as well.

I mainly go to the e-bow when I want to NOT sound like a guitar (I have no keyboards) like in last years 'Soundscape' challenge.

AlexC

@steamabacus That is quite brilliant. Fantastic piece! Exactly the kind of tone and textures I want to get with an Ebow. Thanks for linking to that. Love it.

steamabacus

@AlexC ; Thanks. If it's ambient style stuff you're interested in then, 100%, get yourself an e-bow. Just be prepared to put in a bit of work on new 'technique'.

sweepy

They work very nicely on 12 String acoustics too
The EBow and Sustainer are like chalk and cheese, the Sustainer is on all the time whereas the Ebow can be used dynamically to coax the note. I always put mine in any guitar case that I take out, great fun and a good use for knackered PP3's

english_bob

dogload said:

It's fantastic on bass too. You can get lovely long cello-like drones.

The bassist in my last band used one on a couple of songs- on one for the cello-like sound dogload mentioned, but on the other he rocked the ebow on and off the string for a sort of swell-throb dubstep wobble thing that completely drowned out my guitar and forced me to buy a boost pedal