Hello there!

How does this e-bow thing function? How can it make an infinite sustain
over notes?



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"Neall Mercado" wrote to "All" (02 Apr 01 10:03:00)
--- on the topic of "E-Bow"

Hello there!

How does this e-bow thing function? How can it make an infinite
sustain over notes?

Perhaps a driver in a black box thingie that clamps onto the head-stock?
It just adds mechanical feedback which reinforces the note's ringing. To
get an idea how that mechanical feedback works turn up the amp's volume,
short of it feeding back, and then touch the head-stock to the cabinet.
It's a clever trick but the acoustic feedback is different.

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Quoting Mike Ross to Neall Mercado <=-

Perhaps a driver in a black box thingie that clamps onto the
head-stock? It just adds mechanical feedback which reinforces the
note's ringing. To get an idea how that mechanical feedback works turn

So, is it just like what the new model of Kramer, it's 'infinite sustain' series, induces a mechanical feedback to keep the note ringin'. Thanks Mike.

By the way, I've watched the video of Smashing Pumpkins playing live in Amsterdam. I noticed that their guitarist is using a small, square gizmo
that he put over the guitar's pickup while fretting notes...it keeps on
ringing while that gizmo is still there. Is it the same?


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"Neall Mercado" wrote to "Mike Ross" (04 Apr 01 02:29:00)
--- on the topic of "E-Bow"

By the way, I've watched the video of Smashing Pumpkins playing live
in Amsterdam. I noticed that their guitarist is using a small, square gizmo that he put over the guitar's pickup while fretting notes...it
keeps on ringing while that gizmo is still there. Is it the same?

I'm not sure what it was you saw. However, another way to prolong
sustain is to increase the pickup's magnetism. A guitar pickup is
basically a permanent magnet with a coil. There is a limit to how much magnetism the magnet has in a given size.

This is especially true of older pickups since magnet making of the day
didn't benefit from advances in new metals. For example the typical hard
drive today has tiny magnets that one would have a hard time pulling
apart since they are so strong.

Thusly if one were to place such a magnet over the pickup so that the
pole polarity aids the existing pickup's magnetic field then the pickup actually becomes much more sensitive. It's tricky to deterine the best
location to add such a magnet however.

I've experimented with new magnets taken from a dead hard disk and added
them to an older pickup with very satisfying results. The hardest part
was determining which was the north or south poles of the magnet. The
trick is to get a hold of a magnetic compass.

The north pole of a magnet if suspended from a string will point north!
So if an unknown magnet's pole attracts the compass needle north pointer
then it is a south pole. It sounds confusing but consider that the
unknown's other pole would then point North! Once we have an identified
magnet the pickup's fields can then be identified in turn. Then the new
magnet can be strategically located to help the existing magnetism.


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Hi Neall!

How does this e-bow thing function? How can it make an infinite sustain over notes?

I have one... but actually I doubt that it makes much sense to have one in the age of guitar synthesizers. It is not easy to use and I think, there are not many players who really use it for playing music and not just for fiddlying around with it.

Actually, it is picking up the vibration of the strings, amplifying it and feeding it back the the string and the pickup. The sound differs depending on where you point the "hot spot" that is maked with a blue light spot. Depending one how you move it, you can produce sounds like a flute or a cello or a violin
and more. YOu rarely hear it being used in guitar music. I think, the guitarist
of HIM is using it, but I am not sure.

You can find a picture of an e-bow on my guitar zone website.It looks like a light gray, kinda u shaped thing.

Take care
Sven

Sven's Guitar Site: http://www.guitarsite.de/
Sven's Guitar Zone: http://zone.guitarsite.de/

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