# Can every instrument be amplified? Have they? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132 "2002-09-29T19:24:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JfMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@JfMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JfMen)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132/1 "2002-09-29T19:24:11Z")
I assume you can make an electric banjo and ukelele. Can you make an electric lute, lyre, kazoo, ocarina, triangle, kettle drum? And which of these and others have already been made? ---
**Author:** ![ZooMetropolis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e480ec/32.png) [@ZooMetropolis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZooMetropolis)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132/2 "2002-09-29T21:02:06Z")
I guess that if you want to amplify them, you only need a microphone and an amplifier. ---
**Author:** ![sigSEGV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@sigSEGV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sigSEGV)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132/3 "2002-09-29T21:07:17Z")
They would all need metal strings. ---
**Author:** ![sigSEGV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@sigSEGV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sigSEGV)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132/4 "2002-09-29T21:08:47Z")
Posted too soon. Thought you were referring to pickups on an electric guitar. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132/5 "2002-09-29T21:36:18Z")
Yes, any virtually any sound can be amplified. A “direct” pickup on a string instrument (almost always a guitar)converts the string vibration directly to a modulated electrical signal. You could do the same with say, a ukulele or a cello, but their uniqueness is a function not only of their strings’ frequencies, but of the acoustical amplification characteristics of their bodies, which a direct pickup does NOT pick up. Similarly you could build a direct pickup diaphragm(sp?) into a flute or kazoo, but the pickup will miss some of the “character” of the sound. That’s why most acoustical instruments have not been redesigned with “direct” amplification. ---
**Author:** ![andy\_fl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@andy\_fl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andy_fl)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132/6 "2002-09-30T05:36:40Z")
Every amplifier will cause the sound to be distorted someway or other. This is due to the frequency response of system. Simply put, if an amplifying system multiplies say a high pitch sound by 10 times, it would multiply a low pitch sound by some other factor. Usually it is an compromise. No amplifier system (that means the microphone, the connections, the wires, the filters, the amplifier, the speakers, etc.) exists which multiplies all frequencies by the same amount. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132/7 "2002-09-30T05:54:21Z")
Can you imagine amplified bagpipes? ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132/8 "2002-09-30T06:09:11Z")
The late, great, **Eddie Harris** was the first to amplify the saxophone. His album _The Electricying Eddie Harris_ includes the classic _ **Listen Here** _. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2002, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-every-instrument-be-amplified-have-they/130132/9 "2002-09-30T10:53:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bumbazine \* > Can you imagine amplified bagpipes? Don’t have to. I’ve heard them. Yes, bagpipes, too