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From: mpmst1@cisunx.UUCP (Michael P. Metlay)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics,rec.music.makers
Subject: Re: E-Bow
Message-ID: <7467@cisunx.UUCP>
Date: 6 Mar 88 00:30:11 GMT
References: <1283@c3pe.UUCP>
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Comp & Info Sys
Lines: 26
Keywords: How do they work?
Summary: answers to yr questions, i hope.

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'.