Cajon (drum box)

[dhdb]

Hey,
I am planning to build a Cajon, seems pretty simple and fun project. I've tried to search the internet for plans, especially thickness and type of wood, size and placement of the hole, and positioning of snare(s) and attachment.
example: http://www.schlagwerk.com

Is it possible to buy a separate snare drum type of snare? I am also thinking of just using old guitar strings.

david

[dhdb]

update: I found some plans in Dutch. I have modified them, and this weekend I have started building the cajon. I hope to post some pictures and sound sample within 2 weeks.

[dhdb]

work in progress... I have very little time and not the right tools, so progress is very slow. here's some images.


this is the front side, without front


close-up of the snare (tension) adjustment system I made using two furniture bolts.


how the snares are attached at the top


back with soundhole

everything is birch triplex glued together (with some nails on the inside)

[owel]

I know cajon means box... but what is it really?

Can you give us some background info?

[MASSIVE Mastering]

(ka-HONE) It's a box you sit on and play as a percussion instrument. There are good ones and crappy sounding ones. Can resemble a kick AND a snare of sorts...

It's funny that you mentioned Dutch plans... For an instrument of Spanish origin, those crazy Dutch guys have some good sounding cajons...

Anyone (Owel?) looking for the sound - The cajon starts in at 1:20 in on this file.

http://www.massivemastering.com/audiosa ... ample5.mp3

Happens to be a Dutch guitarist also...

[dhdb]

crazy dutch??

for a short history see http://www.tonecajon.com/?page=history for example.

[MASSIVE Mastering]

Nothin' but love for the Dutch...

[Dugz Ink]

David inspired me to learn more about these things, so I've been searching everywhere for everything that I could find about cajon shapes and dimensions. It turns out that there isn't a "standard" design... although his is the most common.

I saw a cool picture of Mick Fleetwood sitting on one that has a slanted face, and another picture of one that was being played like a conga/etc. (It had legs attached to both sides.) Hmmm...

So I started working on my own design. Here's a cut-away side view.

The playing surface is on top, and it's slanted away from the player.

Although sound energy doesn't just travel in a straight line, I wanted to get an idea of where the sound energy would bounce... that's what all of the red lines represent.

Any comments before I start cutting wood?

[dhdb]

cool to see more people are interested in building a cajon!

piezo pickup is a nice idea, never thought of it. are they expensive?

I was planning to just mike it, maybe with two mikes: one at the sound hole to capture body and bass, one at the front to capture the attack sounds. the mike at the hole would have to take some distance though, to stay away from the air punches coming out of the sound hole.

are you also going to attach snares to the playing surface?

I assume you plan to play it standing because I cannot imagine where to sit on your design. in that case, isn't this a little low?

btw, I will post a drawing with dimensions when it is finished and sounding decent.

[Dugz Ink]

piezo pickup is a nice idea, never thought of it. are they expensive?

K&K Sound has some inexpensive units. They recommend putting them on the "drum head"... but I think that would apply more to djembes and so on. Because the cajon is made of wood, there will be aLOT of sound transfer through the body... just like an acoustic guitar.... so I'm not sure what will be the "best" mounting point.

However, it's easy enough to attach them with tape and experiment.

(I have some notes in this thread from my experiments with mounting piezos.)

are you also going to attach snares to the playing surface?

If all goes well, I think I will build more than one cajon. I would really prefer to have snares on a cajon that has 2 playing surfaces; then I'm not stuck with just playing a snare.

I cannot imagine where to sit on your design ... isn't this a little low?

After seeing people playing cajons in various positions, I thought I would try a design that can sit between the player's legs while the player sits in a chair. This is partly out of necessity; I have a bad disk in my back, so I can't lean over and play a cajon like yours for a long period of time.

D~s

[cadguy]

Hi ...also about to start a cajon building project..just bought some wood...going to keep the 1st attempt simple.....much like the box pics dhdb has posted....where did you get the Dutch plans?.......haven't figured the snare part yet......i'll keep you up to date as I go....check out http://www.popercussion.com/ for some nice cajons and sound clips.......

[gameshark888]

I am planning to build a Cajon "snare" Drum but I don't know the how to's
does any body have the pdf plans or any other plans? Cauz I wanna give it to my Father as a gift for his B-day ^_^ thnx in advance for your help guys
by the way my e-mail is mep888@yahoo.com mep888atyahoodotcom thnx ^_^

[Toffe]

I am too extremely interested in building a cajon.
I'm currently waiting for 20 meters of bambu to arrive so I can start building japanese flutes

So I want a nice project I can do while waiting.

I just can't seem to find any plans. Where did you guys find them?

[boas]

Hello. I'm new here, and ended at this forum after googling for diy Cajon. I have some badly translated but still good instructions on building a Cajon. They come as a PDF-file; mail me if you would like to get a copy.
I'm also very interested in other drawings/descriptions, so if you have a good instruction lying on your computer, I'd be glad to receive a copy.
my mail is: andreas**knapweb.dk (change ** to @)
Thank you in advance.

[boas]

There have been a lot of mails from people who would like the cajon plans I mentioned in the reply above. Instead of sending me a mail, please use the following link to download the PDF-document directly:

www.ocanartesania.com/V2/pdf/articulos/ ... _cajon.pdf

-boas

[chconnor]

Hi - I know the thread is old, but in case anyone comes across it, I made a pretty detailed page on cajon building. It also collects what I think is all the information on the web about it:

http://caseyconnor.org/cajon

Hope it's useful!
-Casey

[guitarboy]

David Marks did a really cool web episode for making a drum table.

Try Youtube or google. His show was called 'wood working with David Marks' I believe.

He'll walk you through all the details of making one.

I hunt through his stuff as well as 'the wood whisperer' for tips and techniques for my new woodshop.

[chicanoj74]

Hi. Newbie here. I've built a few cajons now using Baltic Birch and it seems to be too rigid. I'm going to try American Birch next. I've heard that A or D strings are best for a flamenco cajon (my interest). Does anyone know what the best gauge is? Also, my highs are sounding more like congas than a flamenco snare. Is this because of the Baltic face (too rigid) or the string placement (3 strings in the middle, running straight up and down)? I know a good flamenco snare should be dry and easily accessed.

I've been using 1/2" ply for the top, bottom, and sides while utilizing quarter inch ply for the back (hole side) and 1/8" for the face. I've noticed that cajons I've seen in the music stores only use 1/2" for the top and bottom. 1/4" is probably too thin for the sides (in my experience), they offer a 3/8" in some places. I think this is what most professionally made cajons use.

Mario Cortes and Mienl use two strings doubled up in "v" formation, with allen screws as tuners (accessed from the bottom). I've experimented with machine head tuners with varying degrees of success in terms of sound. The double "v" seems to get a better snare, but I haven't replicated this success myself.

Does anyone know what string/snare system the brands Schlagwerk (La Peru) and PRK Percussion use???

Thanks!