BOC: Theremin, now E-bow

[Ted Jackson jr. 6L6]

from:          John McIntyre <MCINTYRE at PA.MSU.EDU>

> What Craig has described is not an E-Bow but a Gizmotron, developed by
> Godley & Creme while they were still with 10CC.  (They left 10CC in part
> to focus on the Gizmotron.  Their album _Consequences_ makes a nice
> Gizmotron demo album.)
>
> There were two models of Gizmotron: a six string model for guitar and a
> four string model for bass guitar.  The speed was not variable (unless you
> wanted to vary the voltage supplied to the motor), but the wheel spacing
> was, allowing for different string spacing.  (The lack of standard string
> spacing on bass guitars is supposedly what scuttled the plans for a bass
> E-Bow since the E-Bow rides on the strings adjacent to the one being
> excited.)
>
> The big advantage of the Gizmotron over the E-Bow is that the Gizmotron
> could excite any or all of the strings at once, while the E-Bow is one
> string at a time and cannot switch strings quickly.  The big drawback
> of the Gizmotron is that the wheels wear out fairly quickly.

And, the e-bow is a lot less complicated, and durable...

> Both devices face marketing reluctance in that they require some adaptation
> in your playing style: too many musicians want a magic box that does all
> the work without them having to learn new techniques.
>
> John McIntyre

And too, if you use them too much it gets tired.  BOC just put in a
little bit of e-bow so it didn't get tired...

theo