Ebows

[henry]

Do ebows ruin pickups? It's something I've heard but no idea if it's true...

[Ken Byng]

Henry
I wouldn't have thought that an eBow would cause damage to pickups any more than sustain on a six string electric caused by feedback.

[Jif]

The only thing I could think of is that the magnetic field from the Ebow might affect the strength of the magnetic poles over time.

So I've just googled it and it seems that is indeed the worry, according to the manufacturers of Ebow not justified in reality.

More likely you magnetized the strings which can happen easily but that's a simple fix change the strings. I know that because if you fool around enough with a ebow or other electronic magnetic toy you magnetize the strings, not ruin the pickup.

Here's Ebows take on it.

Can the EBow damage my pickups?

The EBow produces a very weak magnetic field. Not much more than the field generated by the strings themselves when a chord is struck. The source of this weak field sits above the plane of the strings, a good distance from the magnets in your pickups. It takes a pretty strong field like that produced by an AC powered soldering gun to affect the magnets in your pickup and even then the gun must be close to the pickup.

[henry]

Thanks guys! I have placed an order.

[JeffM]

I wish they still made the double version that activated 2 strings simultaneously - perfect for pedal steel.