Hello. Recently I've been wanting to get an Ebow- those things are amazing! So many incredible sounds are available. However, I'm not sure I'm ready to pay $80 (new) for it. I love what it can do, but I'm just not sure it's worth the price in terms of how often I'd use it (it would be more of a "just noodling" kind of thing, at least at first).
Since I like the DIY approach to everything, I'm wondering if it would be possible to build one of these myself. I know it would not be nearly as compact as the real thing, but I don't mind that. It's not too complicated inside, is it? I'm not too sure about how it works actually - I googled it and I found vague references to electromagnetism and solenoids (?) but the only schematic diagram of it that I could find was only available from a website about patents and intellectual property that requires a subscription to access it.
Can anyone help with this idea? Thanks.
Alex
I'm pretty sure the short answer is no. I'm not sure how much of a used market there is but check ebay. I don't use mine every day, but it certainly has given me my $80 worth over the years. Really nice for recording. A bit of a trick to get used to using it live. Keep in mind there is more to it than just the electrical mechanism. The grooves in the bottom are integral to the technique and produce a bowed arpeggio effect when swept in a circular pattern.
Kerry M
hmm a dual 9v batterie supply, into a curent amplifier a nice coil of wire and a fixed permanent magnet..
not exactly perfect but in the right directions
I've had a look at an Ebow (cut open..) and spoken to a number of people who have tried to copy ebows or make similar. I personally think, it isn't the thing to try to make for less than $80!! here in Australia they are more than twice as much, but I still say BUY ONE, financially anyone would be better off working for a few hours! my 2c.
it isn't an ebow but if you want to have a controled type of feedback.
well u can try this but i am sure that people will tel you that it won't work here, but i will give you the link anyway
http://projectguitar.com/tut/sustainer.htm
it is a unique sound in its self so its neither here nor there but usefull none theless if you are creative
if you go to the u.s. patent registry, you can look it up directly
without charge....it will give you diagrams and the whole bit.
you'll have to search through tons of stuff, but it's there.
if i have time ill look for it for you....
Ah - it's time for the ebow question again. It's coming a little early this year.
The commercial ebow is not a good candidate for reproduction, not because the electronics are complicated, but because the mechanics are complicated.
The inside is a a pickup coil, an LM386, and an output coil. The pickup coil and output coil have to be wound to be small and to concentrate the magnetic pickup and output fields so there is no feedback on the ebow itself. Otherwise, it would simply drive itself, not the string.
The trick seems to be getting a small pickup coil with lots of turns of fine wire and an output coil of about 6 ohms resistance and a couple of hundred turns of about #22. All this needs to go into a box with a battery and LM386 small enough to use like a pick. That's difficult mechanically.
Quote from: R.G.Ah - it's time for the ebow question again. It's coming a little early this year.
:oops: Sorry, I searched the forum and couldn't find much of anything. :)
Thanks for answering my questions guys, I guess I'll see what I can find on Ebay. I've never worked with pickups (the insides anyway) or winding coils of any type, and I'm not good at making things compact (or very accurate). So I guess this is not a DIY project, at least not for me :) Thanks again!
Alex
Doesn't an ebow actually cause the strings to vibrate?
Neither nor... because it's really amazing how well it's designed so that it fits on your strings correctly. DIYing a good case would be hard in itself.
-Colin
QuoteDoesn't an ebow actually cause the strings to vibrate?
Yes, it does. An eBow also work on a acoustic guitar.
Bye,
Joep
So it does vibrate the strings... so that output coil in there puts out a strong magnetic field that actually causes the strings to vibrate? How does it not cause problems with your guitar pickups? (induced hum and that sort of thing) And what does the LM386 do? It's not something that's in the audio path... Oh, it must amplify the input signal, I imagine.
QuoteHow does it not cause problems with your guitar pickups?
Again it does, the output level of the guitar is very sensative to where you place the eBow. The output is much higher near a pickup.
Joep
for god or satan's sake buy one, you'll never be sorry. i met mr. heat when he was still making them in his garage. he's a cool dude , i have one from the first run. still have and love it.
- tom
I guess I should bite the bullet and buy one. They are great for ethereal effects. (Just for the record, I never even entertained the idea of a DIY version of this, based on things I read here the last time the topic came up)
yep , buy it!!!!! add some delay to really go wild. i guess i've had mine for about 20 years. no failures no comeplaints[sp?]
- tom
Quote from: Paul MarossySo it does vibrate the strings... so that output coil in there puts out a strong magnetic field that actually causes the strings to vibrate? How does it not cause problems with your guitar pickups?.
According to the manufacturer , the magnetic field is fairly weak. About the same strengh as a solidly strummed chord. I emailed in reference to someone's claim that they *knew someone whose vintage Strat was ruined by an Ebow*. This tripped my bullshit detector as I have been using them for 20 years on the same guitar with no problems. Sure enough, it is an urban legend.
Kerry M
"comeplaints[sp?]"
Complaints. :wink:
I think I would do a lot better with an ebow than with a slide... :oops:
use 'em both and have a theramin! not really, but it sure sounds like one. jon
Quote from: JoepQuoteDoesn't an ebow actually cause the strings to vibrate?
Yes, it does. An eBow also work on a acoustic guitar.
Bye,
Joep
i would like to see it wokr on an acoustic..
i have heard it will do it but i havent' been able to make it do it.. i tried fro like an hour at the music store
any tips
Quote from: Alex C:oops: Sorry, I searched the forum and couldn't find much of anything. :)
...and I'm an idiot. :? I didn't scroll down and look at the archives. :oops:
I messed around with an ebow a few years ago, and I found that it also worked on acoustic, but the effect is certainly not as pronounced or loud. I didn't try it with my soundhole pickup, but I imagine it would be more effective in that case.
Alex
Quote from: Ansil
i have heard it will do it but i havent' been able to make it do it.. i tried fro like an hour at the music store
any tips
Bring the ebow towards upper frets. You get the most *mechanical excitement* around where the 24th fret would be. It takes a fraction to get the string going, but the ebow will keep it going. Sounds good playing along to the Built To Spill tune I'm listening to.
Kerry M
hm ok will try it tomorrow then
It will work with a coat hanger (a steel wire coathanger, that is).
Hi everybody?
Why can't you take your guitar pickup as "input coil", put the LM386 in a stompbox and connect it to a handheld output coil with cord?
Has anybody tried that?
Just my two eurocents ;)
Carlos
QuoteWhy can't you take your guitar pickup as "input coil", put the LM386 in a stompbox and connect it to a handheld output coil with cord?
You can. The cabling gets really messy, but you can make that work.
The latest incarnation of these things is the idea you flirted with but didn't quite make it to - on a dual pickup guitar, why not make one pickup the input coil, and one the output coil. That in fact works almost.
The "almost" is that the output coil has to have few turns of thick(er) wire to do the job correctly, and that makes it have low output as a pickup. So the arrangement that works is one stock pickup at the bridge as the input, a modified low-turns pickup at the neck as an output device, and a high gain preamp to bring up the neck pickup signal when it's used as an input.
Hmmm? How many turns on the neck pickup? A couple of hundred, #24 or so, I believe as a guess.
Quote from: troubledtomfor god or satan's sake buy one, you'll never be sorry. i met mr. heat when he was still making them in his garage. he's a cool dude , i have one from the first run. still have and love it.
- tom
Anyone have a schematic for a refrigerator? I want to build one. BTW, I like making my own light bulbs too. I'm reading up on how to make my own porcelain forms so I can DIY my own toilet next...
Sorry, couldn't resist... :twisted: :twisted:
Doug
I paid $180 Canadian ($120 US) for my ebow, and for the amount of time that it would take to build one, you could get a McDonald's job and buy three of them.
The only complaint that i have about it is that it can only vibrate one string at a time. If they developed a unit (it would have to be large) that mountd over all six strings, and had 6 pressure-sensitive buttons for driving the strings, that would be wicked. I would use it for slow-attack orchestral simulations.
Yes, it works on acoustic, but not as well. How well t works also depends on the composition of your strings. Certain metals react better to the ebow's field. Play around and find out what works best!
Quote from: Alex CQuote from: Alex C:oops: Sorry, I searched the forum and couldn't find much of anything. :)
...and I'm an idiot. :? I didn't scroll down and look at the archives. :oops:
Alex
Don't worry about it. If you look through the archives much, you'll notice there are a number of subjects that get recycled from time to time. IMO, I don't think everyone needs to do an archive search every time they want to ask a question. Also, who's to say whatever was discussed in the archive is the last word on the subject anyway?
But this is a good time to make the point that the archives do have a wealth of information, and I would encourage everyone to check them out occasionally. They are a great resource.
Doug
I've only gotten mine to work on acoustic guitar when I had one of those sound hole pickups installed. Sounds pretty cool though.
I've also heard *cough cough* that vibrating eggs work well also. You just don't get the nifty string guides.
Quote from: Doug HQuote from: troubledtomfor god or satan's sake buy one, you'll never be sorry. i met mr. heat when he was still making them in his garage. he's a cool dude , i have one from the first run. still have and love it.
- tom
Anyone have a schematic for a refrigerator? I want to build one. BTW, I like making my own light bulbs too. I'm reading up on how to make my own porcelain forms so I can DIY my own toilet next...
Sorry, couldn't resist... :twisted: :twisted:
Doug
hey doug i got a scheme on teh back of my fridge you want a copy of it?????
Since we are on the ebow topic.. Is there anyone that knows why these things might vary? Did they use a different opamp in the original ones??
I have a couple ebows - I have the original chrome model that has no on-off switch (it turns itself on), and I have one of the black ones. These are very different - the chrome one vibrates the strings very smoothly and it vibrates some positions on the neck easier than the other one. :D The black one is a little more aggressive - a very quick swell to a slightly harsh vibration, its harder to control than my other one :cry: . I'm just curious why this migt be? Can I open up the black one and swap opamps??? or is this more likely the difference between the windings on the magnets
My chrome one is in premo condition (and is almost collectable I think) - and I know I'm gonna drop it someday and muck it all up. I'd just like to have another one respond as smoothly as the "old" one.
Thanks for any input.
No way to swap op amps in an Ebow, it is epoxied. But, I made a "flat battery" emulator (a variable power supply wiht a pot in series) because a customer said the behabvior was very battery dependent, and had a "sweet spot" at least for him.
Quote from: ryanscissorhands
The only complaint that i have about it is that it can only vibrate one string at a time. If they developed a unit (it would have to be large) that mountd over all six strings, and had 6 pressure-sensitive buttons for driving the strings, that would be wicked. I would use it for slow-attack orchestral simulations.
Have you heard of the Fernandes Sustainer?
Go to http://www.fernandesguitars.com/ and click on Products/Sustainer.
I think the Sustainer mounts under the strings like a pickup.
Quote from: ErikMiller
Have you heard of the Fernandes Sustainer?
Go to http://www.fernandesguitars.com/ and click on Products/Sustainer.
I think the Sustainer mounts under the strings like a pickup.
Also the Sustainiac http://www.sustainiac.com/ - got one of these and it rocks. Less intense and "focussed", more amplike feedback than an ebow.
Hit a chord and all the ringing strings will sustain for a while until eventually, just like amp feedback, the harmonics releted to the guitar's natural resonances cause one tone too dominate the others.
A little expensive and tricky to fit but worth it.
I have used an ebow with an acoustic guitar and a banjo both before. Both sound weird, sort of like using a (real) bow, but without as many harmonics.
Definitely worth the $80...
Also note that you can get sorta the same effect by using a volume pedal to cut the attack of a regular pick, and fade into (and sustain) the note.
drew
www.toothpastefordinner.com
You can make a sustainer like the Ansil's idea of build a LM386 amp inside the guitar, split the pickup signal in two ways, one going to the out jack and one going to the amp, then use a piezo or a very small speaker glued in the guitar, then the piezo will pass the sound to the guitar body, and it will sustain. I will try this with a amp, but not built in the guitar and with the piezo glued with adhesive tape. I tried with a little LM386 amp, and it enter in feedback, but I didn't tried to send the feedbacked signal to my amp.