The Steel Guitar Forum

Would like some informat ion on the E-Bows. Is the regular e-bow or the e-bow plus best for steel guitar? Thanks J. Dean

I have had both types of the ebow. The regular ebow seemed to be more responisive. However, I had difficulty switching strings with these units. Staying on the 5th string seemed OK for violin effects and the 8th string for cello effects but it's not the type of effect that is plug & play as you have to develop a technique using it. Maybe other players have had a positive experience with this unit?

I always wanted to acquire the ebow made for steel guitar that drove two strings. Out of production many years ago and a rare find.

j dean boy your getting way above your raising. does bobby cooper know about this good stuff.he will think your going to play RAP' ha.ha.

I use the plus model all the time, it's a nice effect. Sometimes takes a bit to get it going, but it's fun to play around with positioning and the two switch positions.
I have one of the very first two string models as well, but it's been broken for many years. They can't repair them.
For a truly tasty example of what they can sound like, check out BE's version of "Once Upon a Time in the West" from the live Scotty's convention album.

Thanks guys for the information. Pete you know the junk comming out of Nashville you have to try everything.

An eBow is an amazing tool that I use regularly. There is technique involved and positioning relative to the pickup is important. On lap steel I turn the eBow around backwards from its normal position due to the short distance between the bridge and pickup. This works great on the instrument.

For more fun, add a little modulation and delay, throw the whole mess in front of a looper, and orchestrate thyself!

J. Dean Mooney wrote:Would like some informat ion on the E-Bows. Is the regular e-bow or the e-bow plus best for steel guitar? Thanks J. Dean

as far as I know e-bow is nowadays sold only in the "plus" version: so you have a switch where you can chose the "standard mode" or the "harmonic" option, in this last case you have a high enhancements of high frequency subharmonics ... great but with less control pheraps ...

I use e-bow with a lap-steel guitar, mainly for drones making (e-bow + sound-on-sound); you can get some results listening clips of my last two CDs "Wanderer" and "Ascension and Revelation", at http://solyaris.altervista.org

giorgio

There used to be an E-bow that was designed for steel guitar. Is it still available?

Althought it made cool sounds, I did not find very much use for it. My thinking was that my time was better spent playing the pedal steel than playing around learning how to get cool effects out of the thing. But hey, thats just me.

Leslie Ehrlich wrote:There used to be an E-bow that was designed for steel guitar. Is it still available?

no, as far as I know.
to contact builder: http://www.ebow.com/

btw, it come in my mind a possible useful info:

the alternative to e-bow could be the sustainiac system http://www.sustainiac.com/

in that case all the body of guitar is made in resonance. One of my favorite artists, Robert Rich ( www.robertrich.com ) use the sustainiac Model B (now substituted with Model C http://www.sustainiac.com/model-c.htm ) to obtain so mervellous and unique sound on a lap-steel guitar.

Last but not least, following technological evolutions, I suggest to see the new beta release of Moog Guitar ( http://www.moogmusic.com/moogguitar/ and watch sound demo on youtube.com ) here the resonance of strings is controlled by a refined system that allow guitar reach amazing drone sounds;
the onluy minus of that extraordinary instrument is the absurd price now.

giorgio

There was a steel guitar model ebow built a while back. It would cover two strings at once. It was discontinued years ago. Here is a pic of it in the middle of this group of Ebows.

I never had much luck at operating an E~Bow! It was just to hard to get it started! I much prefer the Boss~Tone Effect for myself! I only use it for the String~Effect.

indeed e-bow is not an "effect"; is a different way to make strings vibrate (in alternative to pick for example); my piece "Waves of Wanderer" is realized using e-bow and pick on a lap-steel guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8GJB16t--4

giorgio

Why is it so hard to duplicate the two string E-Bow?Everything else seems to be re released except for that?I would really like to have one.I met the E-Bow guys at a NAMM show a few years ago and couldn't get a straight answer out of them.

Hey Stu!

I was jamming on steel with our buds Skip Edwards and Dean Parks yesterday, and astounded them with my operational steel guitar Ebow, works on 2 strings. We had fun messing with it. I use it these days mainly for fake strings when there's no synth player, but occasionally for raspy rock solos.

Dean said Greg Heet has no plans to ever manufacture them again, or I guess even repair the ones that broke. That's so dang.

How much is my ebow worth on ebay?

John,You get to hang with Skip,and Dean and I'm getting ready to drive 70 miles thru a blizzard to get to a gig...I just aint livin' right!How come the e-Bow guy doesn't license the two string version and have them 7 year old kids in Malaysia who build all of that Wal-Mart stuff put them together?
Stu

Gotta straighten up and fly right, brother Stu! Would you trade cold and blizzards for LA gridlock? I thought not...

About strange tecniques to exite strings ...

Daevid Allen of Gong fame are well known guitarists that have played the "glissando guitar".

"Glissando guitar" as used and christened by Daevid Allen means cranking up the amp, adding reverb and rubbing the strings with a slide without picking. The friction causes a soft drone. The effect is wholly unlike anything associated with normal slide guitar playing."

An example here:


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... City&hl=en

and in the "orchestral" version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OYJ3OtAil8
http://www.vimeo.com/1626404

Someone have details about this technicque, the metal pieces Daevid used as "bow" ... ?

Any personal experience ?

giorgio

and who remember Gizmotron ? :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizmotron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsRiZlmL49o

One of Mr. Allen's cohorts is Steve Hillage, a brilliant and inventive guitarist. Steve also played glissando guitar with surgical steel rods as the bow. Fascinating stuff.

Loren Claypool wrote:One of Mr. Allen's cohorts is Steve Hillage, a brilliant and inventive guitarist. Steve also played glissando guitar with surgical steel rods as the bow. Fascinating stuff.

Hi Loren

yes I know about Steve; it seem that the idea of bow strings with a piece of metal come from "conversations" & improvisation between Daevid Allen and Sid Barret ... long time ago ...
this tecnique probably achive vertex of beauty on Robert Rich's lap-steel solo ...

BTW, do you experienced this "technique" consiting in bowing / rubbing the (E) string with a piece of metal ?
as far as I know any pice of "steel rods" cound be suitable ... I thought about a tremolo lever of a strat guitar .. I have to experiment ..

giorgio

Speaking of Gizmotron...Stu Schulman has one! It was in my personal storage for years, can't even recall how the heck that happened...but after about 25 years with me, I finally got it back to him.

Is it functional, Stu? Ever use it?

I believe this was invented by one of the guys in that great band, 10CC.

I used an Ebow to create a theremin kind of sound on my pal's tune. I used an Ebow Plus on the setting that pushes the upper harmonics, and I ran the lap steel into a cheapo distortion pedal. The resulting tone is rougher than the sine wave a theremin generates, but still worked well. I was credited as playing the "slide-a-min." You can hear it at this site:

http://www.davesills.com/music-37.html

Giorgi,I've been doing something close to that for at least thirty years...This how I do it,Instead of cranking an amp up that loud I approach it from the other end I use a distortion device my favorite is a Boss Blues Driver.This works on a standard E9th tuning,With your right hand mute strings 1+2 by wrapping you're pinky around those two strings,at the same time mute string number 10 with the thumb from you're right hand while using the right hand pointer finger to mute string number 7F#...place the bar across all of the strings and start shaking it open then add pedals.My way your not killing people with a very loud amp,sometimes I get it to sound like a Chamberlain,A tone control helps.I did this at my friend Michael Ballew's studio in Austin in the 70's.Stu

Hi Stu,

"Glissando guitar" as used and christened by Daevid Allen means cranking up the amp, adding reverb and rubbing the strings with a slide without picking. The friction causes a soft drone. The effect is wholly unlike anything associated with normal slide guitar playing."

i quoted a definition above kept on the fly ...

Indeed I think the secret of that Daevid Allen sound isn't the amp crunking ... but it's that particular use of a metal "bow" to rubbing the string ...

about that, see also that interesting thread:

http://www.loopers-delight.com/LDarchiv ... html#00296

Anyway, that tecnique seem to me achive greatest result in Robert Rich lap-steel guitar "application"

please listen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyTvSoC5YfU

in the track "Touch"
you can clearly listen that sound starting from 1:57 sec, where that "rubbing" infinite notes are blended with other standard slide guitar tecniques (picking and fade-in)

A piece I love so much, in CD "Soma" with Steve Roach


giorgio