When Daryl Hilfers decided he wanted to learn to play the violin, he did his research, but not about stringed instrument techniques. He went to the library and looked up how to build a violin from scratch.
“I already played the guitar,” he explained. “My brother-in-law, Bill Reum, and I always played guitar together, and I thought it would be fun to learn to play the violin. I did some woodworking, so I thought it would be cool to try to make one.
“So I went to the library and researched everything. The first one took 18 months. I started a second one in probably 1986, but didn’t finish it until 2008. That was in the jig for a while.”
Disabled for many years by arthritis, Daryl further complicated his physical status when he fell backward off a two-foot stepladder in 2007 and broke his neck. He and wife Becky were living in Worthington at the time, but moved to an apartment in Luverne six years ago.
Since finishing that second violin in 2008, he’s crafted one after another - both standard and electric versions - using only the most basic of power woodworking tools.
“I’ve got a one-stall garage with a bandsaw, a belt sander and a drill press,” he said. “The rest is done by hand. … It’s surprising what you can get done when you just do a little bit every day.”
No two instruments are alike, and none are created from a kit, he pointed out.
“I just buy the wood and go to town,” he said, noting that he only purchases the strings, tuners and bridges for the instruments themselves, as well as the bows with which to play them.
Daryl generally uses a close-grained wood - ash, Douglas fir, maple, spruce - applying stain and multiple coats of a spray polyurethane to enhance the beauty of the material. The different kinds of wood create different sounds. He also changes up the style details, in one case adding a carved animal face to the scroll at the end of the neck.
Only once has Daryl painted a violin, turning to a local auto body shop to get the job done right.
“I waited until they painted a pearl-white car,” he said, resulting in a violin with a gleaming white finish that he played on his and Becky’s 40th wedding anniversary. It’s one of his favorites.
It’s the white violin that he picks up to demonstrate his musical talents, playing along to recorded music. At the Hilfers’ apartment, the musical interlude is a daily happening.
“I’ve always played by ear,” explained Daryl before the impromptu concert. “I still can’t read music. I just put the stereo on now and play with it. I sit out here (in the main living area), and Becky sits in the back.”
Many of the violins Daryl has fashioned are marked to go to one of their three children someday - a standard and an electric version for each. He’s not ready to part with them quite yet, so they are displayed in the couple’s china cabinet. For their eight grandchildren, he has made what he calls a “candolin,” using a Schwan Food Co. Christmas tin as the body of the instrument.
Currently, Daryl is working on his first mandolin. Having no experience with such an instrument, he ordered a pattern book, but of course is adding his own twists to the project.
He expects his next endeavor will be a second mandolin, and after that, who knows? Making instruments has become a passion for Daryl, filling up his waking - and occasionally sleeping - hours.
“I’ve just always got to do something. … Even when I wake up in the middle of the night, it’s always on my mind,” he said. “... I go to coffee with 20 guys at McDonald’s in the morning, so I take pieces with me when I get them done, so they’ve seen me build a lot of them. I took one to the (Rock County) fair and got grand champion. I didn’t care about the ribbon - I just want people to see them.”
But mostly Daryl makes the instruments for his own enjoyment. When he gets tired of cutting, fitting and sanding the piece on which he is currently working, he sets it aside, picks up one of his finished violins and gets lost in the music.
