Japanese company Hario Glass Co. Ltd developed a range of glass instruments including; a cello, a violin and a keyboard. The first of their kind each instrument is hand blown from a single piece of heat resistant glass. Each piece is hand painted and the results are aesthetically stunning.
Violins and Cellos are often perceived to be delicate instruments, making the use of glass as a construction material quite fitting. Playing these transparent materials surely must provide the user with a feeling of creating music from air?
Of course, the users must also be shit scared that if they drop their instruments they will shatter into a million pieces. Transporting the thing must be a bugger too, in constant fear of it smashing and at the least, acquiring a chip in the body.
The glass instruments have been criticised for the sound they produce;
'It does not have the same depth as say a cello made from maple'
(Some comment made by someone on some post elsewhere)
Well yea of course it won't sound the same; the qualities of glass compared to maple are so different. Instead the fact that a new sound can be produced from these instruments should be celebrated and explored. OK the sound does lack warmth to its tone however, it does create a metallic sound that is individual and unique in it's own right. This exploration of using different materials for such traditional instruments is definitely exciting!
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