To isolate a particular mode of vibration in a standing wave on a string

Question

Suppose a string bound between two rigid end-points is vibrating and it is a combination of a number of normal modes of vibration, is it possible to isolate a particular mode of vibration in wave by a physical experiment by causing all other modes to die out ?

I think when string is straight we can block nodes of our desired mode but will it cause other modes of vibrations to die and dissipate energy and what about modes which are half in wavelength of our desired mode-They will not die ? I think it is wrong direction of thought and hence posted the questiom

niels nielsen · Answer

yes, the method is as follows.

You equip the clamp that holds one end of the string with a high-impedance force transducer (also called a piezoelectric pickup), pluck the string, and send the output into a device called a spectrum analyzer. This displays signal amplitude on the vertical axis of a screen and frequency on the horizontal axis. All the resonances and overtones show up as spikes on the plot and you can determine their relative strengths and the frequencies at which they are active.

To isolate a particular mode of vibration in a standing wave on a string

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