congaplace.com

Posted: **Wed Sep 08, 2004 4:16 pm**

Can anyone tell me what is the advantage of using plywood to build a cajon vs using regular pine for the sides and back and just thinner plywood for the playing surface?

Edited By Miguelo on 1094660215

Posted: **Thu Sep 09, 2004 12:02 am**

All the factors,the configuration,the type of wood,the thickness of the shells,the consistency of the surface,the skills of the players,etc., are going to influence the sound of it.A solid plate of wood would have more consistency for the vibration which is needed in other to reproduce the soundwave.

Edited By zaragemca on 1094688377

Posted: **Fri Sep 10, 2004 12:40 pm**

Hi! So basically a solid pine body should give a better sound? All other things you mentioned being equal?
Thank you

Posted: **Fri Sep 10, 2004 4:46 pm**

I own two Cajons/Cajas - one from Peru and another I designed and had a local carpenter make for me...

I have to say that pine is not the best type of wood to use for percussive instruments - especially instruments that require a resonance sound... Because Pine is so soft and oily it tends to absorb the sound rather than resonate...

The woods used for my cajon made in Peru is of Cedar and Magogany. The one I had made here is of Mahagony only. Both playing surfaces are ply wood of the same type of wood...

Personally, I prefer the playing surface to be tight with only a little bit of give... The one I had made here I will need to have him install a tighter playing surface...

I hope I was able to provide some food for thought...

Just for kicks check out this site-this man makes some beautiful cajons... A bit expensive, but pretty:

Tone Cajon Site

Posted: **Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:24 pm**

Ivan:

¡Bom dia! ¿Como vai? Te entendo.
Muito obrigado

Ate logo

Miguelo

Posted: **Fri Sep 10, 2004 7:37 pm**

Hi, pine wood is really too much "soft" for cajones, you must use harder woods; notwithstanding we can talk about "the right wood" for months, remember that the body of Lp cajones is made with MDF-medium density (this is its italian name), a mix of paper (yes...paper!) and resin pressed toghether. This material can be found at every wood shop, its thickness range goes from 6 mm to 50 mm and it is found in a lot of modern furnitures, thanks to its really fine grain and the price ridiculously low.....all this said the LP cajones have a good sound.
My best regards, Fabrizio.

Posted: **Sat Sep 11, 2004 2:18 pm**

Hi Fabrizio:
Yes I know pine is fairly soft but a lot of the cajones I have seen are completely made out of plywood which I would think it's in the same category as pine????? I don't know and that is why I am asking for advice

So what would be your choices for wood???
Thank you all.

Regards

Miguelo

Posted: **Sat Sep 11, 2004 3:25 pm**

Hi, plywood is harder than pine because is (normally) made with poplar, plus adding resin to glue the plies toghether, the result is hard enough to built good cajones. The really important thing isn't the box, but the "head", that must be perfectly flat and thin to enhance bass tones. For this I use plywood for aeromodels that is 2.5-3 mm thin.
If it can help you gimme your email address so I will send you the plans I use to build my cajones, but the only problems is that they are in italian, so it can be the occasion to learn how to build cajones and italian language! Bye, Fabrizio.
fabriperc@libero.it

Posted: **Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:54 pm**

Miguelo,

Ficoo bem, obrigado... Meu português não é tão hábil quanto meu espanhol. Meu pai falou ambas as línguas mas somente espanhol do raio com mim... consideração, Ivan

I hope your questions were answered about the cajon... It's hard to get a straight forward answer as we all like our women and instruments our own ways... :;):

Posted: **Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:30 pm**

Hola Ivan:

Pues en español entonces

Mi portugues esta un poco..........¿Como se dice????? Oxidado (rusty) igual que el italiano

But, hey! Thanks for the replies dude. I really appreciate it!

Cuidate

Miguelo

Posted: **Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:57 pm**

¡Ciao Fabrizio! Io parla un poco Italiano. Mille grazie per la offerta ¿Me puo' spiegare la dimensioni? Per piacere.

Grazzie

Stia attento

Miguelo

Posted: **Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:58 pm**

Hi Miguelo, please send me your email so that I will give you my five pages instructions for building a cajon. My email is fabriperc@libero.it . Bye, Fabrizio.