EBow
monophonic handheld electromagnetic string driver for guitars
The EBow is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It was invented by the American guitarist Greg Heet in 1969 and introduced in 1976. The EBow uses a pickup and a magnetic feedback circuit to vibrate strings without touching them, allowing players to sustain notes indefinitely.
History
The EBow was invented in 1969 by the American guitarist Greg Heet and introduced in 1976 at the NAMM trade show. It has remained in continuous production since. The first version was activated by plucking the guitar string. The second, introduced in 1983, added an on/off switch and a more powerful drive. The third, introduced in 1989, had improved sensitivity and faster attack. The EBow Plus, introduced in 1998, adds a blue LED and a switch to allow users to move between normal and harmonic modes (which sounds one octave higher). The EBow is powered by a nine-volt battery.
“EBow” enters the record as monophonic handheld electromagnetic string driver for guitars. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what EBow, monophonic and handheld can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“EBow” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, EBow, monophonic and handheld provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1273117. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1969, 1976, 1983 and 1989.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “EBow” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.