A glass violin nicknamed ‘the Hario violin’ has been recognised with a Guinness World Record as the first-ever playable instrument of its kind.

The Hario violin, the first fully-functional glass violin. Photo courtesy of Hario.

The instrument was created by Japanese glassware manufacturers HARIO in 2003, but has only now been acknowledged by an official Guinness adjudicator.

The creation of the instrument required “painstaking”efforts on behalf of HARIO. Typically, hand-blown glass is used to create spherical shapes, and achieving the curves of a violin was “extremely challenging”.  To ensure consistency in the thickness of the glass across the instrument, the entire process had to be completed by hand. It instrument weighs approximately 1.38kg (the average wooden violin weighs around 0.8kg).

There are two completed prototypes of the glass violin; one of which is loaned to Japanese violinist Ikuko Kawai for performances.

HARIO’s website notes that “the Hario violin has a distinctive tone that differs from wooden violins, depending on the pitch, due to differences in resonance. According to its makers, the instrument’s tone sounds like a mix between the traditional Japanese string instrument, the kokyū...