Although most guitar players have probably heard of the E-Bow electronic guitar bowing device, not many have had the opportunity to try it. In theory, the USA-manufactured E-Bow has been around since the 1970s, but production and distribution problems have conspired to make it one of those great mystery products which have never been widely available over here. That's now all changed, thanks to distributor Dixie's Music and Californian manufacturers Heet Sound Products who, between them, have got both production and full UK distribution under control. Henceforth, you should be able to get hold of an E-Bow from any decent music shop, and find out for yourself why this near-legendary device is beloved by players like Steve Hackett, Bill Nelson and many others.

So what is the E-Bow, and is it worth buying? We borrowed one from Dixie's Music to find out.

Basically, the strangely shaped E-Bow is a hand held plastic box which, powered by an internal PP3 battery, produces a strong electro-magnetic field. When held properly and placed with the centre 'drive channel' just over a string, the field causes the string to vibrate, thus producing an endlessly sustained sound - at its most basic not unlike the effect of a bowed violin.

If this were all the E-Bow did it would be quite enough, as this alone produces a most amazing effect, which (as you finger the notes you want with the left hand in the usual manner) enables you to simulate string sounds and styles in a way that no other device or effect can match. However, the E-Bow does more than that - although learning its tricks is going to be an open-ended experience, as there appears to be an endless fund of different sounds and styles you can produce with it. Some of these are demonstrated on the cassette tape and detailed instruction sheet which accompany the E-Bow, and very good they sound too; not so much as replacements for the instrument types you can approximate, but more as electronic guitar-based alternatives to them. Hence, although you can get a respectable enough flute sound, a decent violin and/or viola etc., the point (as with synthesisers) isn't to replace the originals, but to start with them as basics and develop from there.

In design the E-Bow is amazingly deceptive - no fancy controls or switches to play with, just an on/off switch and a red LED to show power on and, to an extent, act as a position guide when it shines on the desired string. In fact it's very much a player-based tool, not an instant 'stab it and scream' effects box with a range of sound that you'll grow bored with in a few months. In fact, so versatile is the E-Bow that we doubt if you'd find it possible to grow bored with - simply because there's always another sound that you've never unearthed lurking in it.

Being a true player's device, there is a certain amount of skill involved in using the E-Bow to best effect. You have to learn to hold it correctly, so that the strings either side of the one you want to 'bow' ride in the guide grooves positioned either side of the drive channel. This means getting the pressure right and learning to manipulate this to the best effect. You also have to ensure that the device is correctly positioned relative to the pickup. Ideally you are recommended to use the neck pickup on your guitar, and we suspect that the reason for this is that the E-Bow produces a noticeable hiss, which could be annoying if you used a treble biased pickup. You also have to develop the skill of moving it from string to string, which we didn't find at all easy at first.

As you get to the 'hot spot' on or near the pickup's pole piece, the E-Bow's effect reaches maximum, and you can both increase and decrease volume by sliding it backwards and forwards against this point. This action also causes the bowing effect, and by manipulating the positioning, pressure, amp tones and so on, the range of sounds you can simulate runs from synths, the whole bowed string family, some woodwinds and so on.

For real screaming Rock solos the potential of the E-Bow is unequalled. The resulting sound (we used a Strat through a tiny transistorised practice amp!) is like full overdriven sustain/feedback, but without distortion (unless you want it, of course). You can bend strings to your heart's content, use hammer-ons and slow fade-ins, the latter sounding like unimaginably controlled 'violining' with the volume control! Against Jimmy Page's eerie exploits with a genuine violin bow, for example, the E-Bow - especially if you dose the sound with delay or reverb - eats it alive. As your proficiency with the E-Bow grows, you can get into effects like bouncing it off the strings (producing almost a plucked violin effect), mixing ultra-fast runs picked conventionally with E-Bow sustain, harmonic control - and probably a whole universe more that have yet to be discovered.

Perhaps above all, the E-Bow is for real guitar players. It responds to how you use it, to your imagination, your creativity and your skill. That makes it worth ten times the price of any effect unit to us, and something which wins the IN TUNE office vote as the most enjoyable effect (if you can call it an effect) that any of us have tried to date. Go into a music store, ask to hear the demo cassette, try an E-Bow for ten minutes and you'll be hooked. We guarantee it!

RRP approx. £85.50 Inc. VAT

More details from Dixie's Music, (Contact Details).