After Making these Cajons, I got a lot of good pointers from some musicians. I would really like to try making one with hardwood and see how of a difference that makes in the sound.
Oh my goodness, didn’t realise what it was till the end, thought it was some foul thing for catching an animal ( as you Americans like to do😅!) thanks for the Education!
Great build! Could you provide where you drilled the holes with the Forstner bit for the snare dowel? Thx! Am building one out of 3/4” Baltic Birch for my son’s birthday
As a drummer, it's good you left the snare in the box. Both with and w/o have their places in music. Is that all that's in those things? I've seen them with some kind of tin plate I guess for the snare instead of a regular drum snare. I've also seen them plug into an amp. Don't know much about them, but from the first time seeing one, it's got to be way easier than hauling a whole kit around lol......great project!
Thanks! Yeah, my friend has an electric one that has built in effects and everything which I would think defeats the purpose, but I digress. I've never seen one with a metal plate, most of the tutorials I found used the snare, the plate may add an interesting sound though. I did discover that the one I made just a few inches taller has a much better sound. Thanks for watching!
I'm just building my second Cajon right now and i want to try those piezo pickups that you can buy for acoustic guitars. They are really cheap (~10$) and have three self-adhessive, round pickups, so you are able to place them anywhere on the plate.
iI really like your idea to put the snares on a wheel. I did my last one on a slider. But yours seems to make more sense, since you can control the touch a little bit better.
Question... Does the size of the rabbet you cut matter in this project? Would the size of the rabbet cut change any of the dimensions of the other pieces?
The depth of the rabbets on the top and bottom panels don't effect the sides, However, the depth rabbets on all the panels will all effect the size of the back panel. And they all also effect the front panel but that should be cut last anyways so you can cut it to size.
Yes always go for the cheap plywood ;-) I have nothing against saving money, but, lets see I'd like to make a nice drum that I hope to use for the rest of my life, show off to my friends, enjoy my work over time - hmmm maybe I'll just spend a few more bucks and make it look nice, well not that yours does not look nice, it does but it could look super with baltic birch play (no need for filler) and maybe a nice piece of decorative veneer on the "drum" face. With all the work going into the box, might as well look fantastic. Are you really going to brag to your friends "and I used cheap plywood!"?
I couldn't agree more. The two in the video are the very first I've ever made, the second one because of the mistakes I made on the first, so I am glad I had a few trial runs before making some out of higher end materials. As for these two; I really put in effort in the finishes and gave them to some friends who were thrilled to add them to their arsenals of instruments, so the effort wasn't in vain. Next time I'm going all out though .
Original cajons were made from all kinds and any kinds of scrap woods found wherever. Nailed, glued or both varies as well in the poor regions of the globe where this instrument originated.
