...!
Stoke Mandeville, Esq & The
Victorian Ballsmiths
"Nobody Want Verdigris-
Covered Balls!"

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

Those exist now for wind instruments, which absolutely messes with my head. I understand intellectually how they must work, but still, my instincts demand, What witchcraft is this?!

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

It's more complicated than that--the sound of a wind instrument depends largely on coming out of the instrument, so to speak, so a mute with a simple mic in it would only pick up a weird muffled noise, if anything at all. These things have signal processing in them that synthesizes what it would sound like without the mute and pipes that to the player's headphones.

>but for stringed
>instruments I'd think they'd have to be electric...

There are practice mutes for resonating stringed instruments (such as violins), but I've no idea how they work. Probably just by damping the strings so they don't vibrate much. They wouldn't simulate the "free" practice sound.

Conversely, a headphone-only amp for an electric guitar wouldn't make it perfectly quiet--anyone else in the room would still be able to hear the jangly noise of an unamplified electric guitar. Kinda like playing a vinyl record without turning the amp on. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

relatedly, I want her to go as Gigi next Halloween
"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

That's what I was trying to say. Thank you for translating my half-witted response into actual thought.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.