Aberdeen American News

LANGFORD, S.D. - The hobby started about thirteen years ago when Duane Strand shelled out $17 for a decrepit violin, all in pieces, at an auction.

"I put it together and I just got hooked," Strand said. He began acquiring and repairing other used violins, and soon reached the point where he became skillful enough to make his own from scratch, without ever being taught.

"He has always been a self-taught man," said his daughter, Kristi Whitmore of Springfield, Mo., who was visiting last week.

Since 2001, the 77-year-old retiree has made 18 violins and dozens of other instruments - guitars, mandolins, dulcimers. And he designs and makes his own instrument named the Strandolin, which is akin to a dulcimer.

Strand also taught himself how to play all the instruments he makes. He did a little guitar-picking as a younger man, but most of his strumming skills were developed in recent years.

He and his granddaughter, Saloam Whitmore, Kristi's daughter, sat down together recently to play a courting dulcimer together.

The instrument sits between two people, with each person playing a separate set of strings. Saloam, 25, and her grandfather played "Red River Valley," "Amazing Grace" and "Revive Us Again."

It's called a courting dulcimer because years ago two young people interested in each other would play it together, Strand said. Adults would allow the couple to go into a room by themselves to play the dulcimer.

"As long as music came from the room, the adults knew they didn't need to send in a chaperone," he said. But the sweethearts probably played footsie along with the dulcimer, Kristi said.

Her father shares his talents with family and others. Strand plays his strings at nursing homes in Roslyn and Sisseton, usually once a month at each town. He sometimes plays in jam sessions and at church.

Saloam remembers how her grandfather would bring instruments along when he and his wife, Anna, came to visit in Missouri. "He'd teach me how to play," she said.

Several of his grandchildren play stringed instruments. They may have developed that interest without grandfather's influence, Saloam said, "But he made it more personal."

Much of the wood Strand uses has a personal touch, too, in that he knows exactly where it came from. "This one is made from walnut from Chelsea," he said. "And this is maple from a tree in Langford."

Spruce, ash, butternut, Russian olive, myrtle, cherry and cedar are other types he has selected for instruments. Not all of it grew locally. "When we used to take trips, we always came home with wood," Anna said.

She and Duane operated the Roykota Resort on Roy Lake for 22 years, where he designed and built a nine-hole golf course. Duane also worked as the press foreman at the American News in Aberdeen in the late '50s and early '60s.

The Strands, both of whom are Langford-area natives, have four children, 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Whenever there's a wedding in the family, Duane gives the couple an instrument he fashioned.

He also makes the bows for the stringed instruments, and the bows, too, have a personal flavor. The part of the bow that touches the strings is made from unbleached, white horse hair that Strand clips from the tails of horses owned by another daughter.

For strings, he does not use the traditional sheepskin intestines called catgut. His strings are steel or a synthetic substance called Perlon, he said.

He uses electric saws to help fashion the musical instruments. Some of the wood pieces need to be bent, such as the sides of violins. To make the wood malleable for curvatures, Duane soaks it for several days and then applies heat to bend it into the desired shape.

Duane said he's not into his hobby for income. "I've sold just a couple, so I can afford to buy more materials," he said. "I'm having too much fun just making them."