The Steel Guitar Forum

Is the E Bow now obsolete?

I saw Sarah Jory use one the other week but I have not seen anyone else use one nor have I seen them advertised for sale by anyone.

There's a guy auctioning 5-10 per week on eBay. I see them every time I search for "steel guitar".

Clive, I use an EBow & still see them for sale regularly in shops in London (I don't know if anybody actually buys them though!).

see www.ebow.com - produced by Heet Sound

Clive, I sell the E-Bow in my store. It is now called the E-Bow Plus because it has a boost switch on it to get that octave-above sound. Don't confuse this with the e-bow that was designed for steel guitar that was available in the 80's. This is the standard model which vibrates only one string. They list at $126. We sell 'em for $99.
Ed Mooney

It's beautiful when you use it with an intelligent harmonizer(pitch shifter) and good use of a distortion, sounds like a house full of strings. When I have time I will write down the patch from my GP100 (later)
JJ

------------------
STEELDAYS 2000
my web-site
my band COD

Is the e-bow for steel guitar still being made? Where can I get one?
TerryB

The two string steel guitar Ebow was only made for a year or two and is not being made any more. I heard there were problems with them failing. I still have mine but haven't checked it in several years to see if it still works.

I have a Steel Ebow. It took me forever to find it. I am currently trying to work up a full A and B section of "Send In the Clowns" for the gadget. If you are able to find one, I have one caveat; I have the devil's own time getting it to activate both strings. It doesn't appear to be a problem with the exciters, as no matter which way I have it aligned, the higher of the two strings is the only one to fire reliably. Sometimes I can get it to work both of them, and when it does, it is great. I am going to try it on the A9th as soon as I fix its power connection. The only real gripe I have with them is that there is no power switch, so I rarely put the battery cover on it (so I could turn it off by unplugging the battery). A little while ago, a voyage in the Pakaseat damaged the connections for the battery right at the little nubbins that attach to the 9V battery

Scotty's in St Lou sell the E Bow.
95 $ + shipping
Steel tryin'

I got my E-Bow from Musicians Friend last month. It was on sale at $59.

Ebows rock! I have one of the original two string steel units but it died years ago, the whole unit is potted in plastic and unfixable according to Heet sound. I remember I used to gently push down on the rear of mine to get both strings to kick in, it took some practice... I still use one of the black single string ones- It's on "OH Death" on our album "Barnyard Gone Wrong" (bOb's got 'em for sale). Curious to hear from you guys who've used both the black one and the new silver one about the difference in sound. If you haven't heard it- check out BE imitating the woman's voice from the original movie score on his cover of "Once Upon a Time In The West" on the live Scotty's album. Awesome.

------------------
Mark van Allen-"Blueground Undergrass" Pedal, Non-Pedal, Lap, and Dobro

I just fixed my 2-string Ebow (broken battery connector), and found that when using the A9th strings, it was MUCH easier to get it to fire both strings. Of course, it was a little more difficult to keep the other strings quiet, as they are almost all wound ones.

Lane