Anybody ever use an Ebow? thoughts?

[matmosphere]

E-bows kick ass! Got into them because of U2, it got out of control because of Radiohead and Muse. I most use sustainers now, where you swap your neck pickup for a sustainer driver/neck pickup combo. The techniques are different. With an E-bow you have to use the neck pickup and hold the E-bow over it, and its very finicky where you place it. You got to use it on the sweet spot. And using it on the high E string takes some practice. With the sustainer you use the bridge pickup and it seems to work better from the 5th fret onwards. You can move from strings more easily. Plus you have a free right hand, so if you got a tremelo equipped guitar its vibrato heaven. I got about 7 guitars with built in sustainers, including a 7-string.

I have always wondered how the built in ones work. Wouldn't it cause all the strings to sustain at once? Is there a way to target a single sting?

[Aentons]

I have always wondered how the built in ones work. Wouldn't it cause all the strings to sustain at once? Is there a way to target a single sting?

It's the secret of guitar playing that no one ever talks about... You mute the strings you don't want to play

[matmosphere]

I have always wondered how the built in ones work. Wouldn't it cause all the strings to sustain at once? Is there a way to target a single sting?

It's the secret of guitar playing that no one ever talks about... You mute the strings you don't want to play

I thought that would play into it some, but I thought there might still be some interference or noise. I guess it's all just comes done to technique.

[diablochris6]

It's the secret of guitar playing that no one ever talks about... You mute the strings you don't want to play

I thought that would play into it some, but I thought there might still be some interference or noise. I guess it's all just comes done to technique.

There is a little technique to it. The sustainers tend to do a better job of vibrating the strings with more mass, so you have to think about how hard you tap on the strings if you aren't picking them. Other than that, strategically muting the strings with both hands is the trick.

[Muadzin]

I have always wondered how the built in ones work. Wouldn't it cause all the strings to sustain at once? Is there a way to target a single sting?

They would all sustain, but not as much as you think. And as sustainers have a feedback mode this could be a way to create amp like feedback without having an amp nearby. I think Kerry King uses them for that.

I thought that would play into it some, but I thought there might still be some interference or noise. I guess it's all just comes done to technique.

I never had any issues with that. The only issue is that you have to switch the sustainer off when not in use, as you will experience some distortion. Overall its like playing guitar with very high gain. where you have to mute the strings constantly to stop unwanted squeels and feedback. Except way way less. Or unless you use the sustainer with high gain. You can use it with cleans, but personally I prefer it with some boost or overdrive.

If you ever want to install a sustainer into a guitar, feel free to shoot me a line. I installed like 7 of them. Also, it will turn your guitar kinda active, so it won't play nice with fuzzes that require a non-buffered guitar signal to sound at their best. Which I still think is lazy designing not to fix this. On the part of fuzzes that is.