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Building cajon

PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 3:55 pm
by vasikgreif
Hi everybody, I'm sure it has been discused already, but I'm not able to find it: would someone of you have plans and tips for building cuban cajons, like Yoruba Andabo in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtqWI5wEfNI&feature=related has?
I found the construction of Thomas Altmann, which looks great, but it's not what I'm looking after right now...

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:13 pm
by guarachon63
search this forum for keywords: cajon yoruba andabo

saludos
barry

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:23 pm
by vasikgreif
Thanks, found your plans, I will use it. What material made you the top side from and would you have some pictures of your finished cajons?

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:38 pm
by bongosnotbombs
:arrow:

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:40 pm
by guarachon63
Thanks, found your plans, I will use it. What material made you the top side from and would you have some pictures of your finished cajons?


Don't have any pictures I may be able to take some later though. The tops that I saw on their cajones were very thin, 1/8 inch (3mm) or less. If I remember correctly what I used was called "birch door skin," a type of veneer that is used to cover door panels.

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:58 pm
by vasikgreif
Would be really nic from you if you could post here some closeup pictures for inspiration. Thanks!

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:40 am
by guarachon63
Well, they aren't much to look at in my opinion but if you insist...

Image

Taped the edges because the nails were popping out...

Image

Image

Now THESE are something to look at! (Photo by Scott Wardinsky):

Image

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:08 am
by vasikgreif
Thanks for pictures... Do you have some kind of construction inside the cajons to help the sides hold tohether, or is it simply glued/nailed together?

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:24 am
by guarachon63
no braces, they were glued then nailed and clamped until the glue set. The nails started popping out of the tops but the glue stuck. I changed the top on the quinto because the original top was too thick, and replaced it with the thinner 1/8 inch top.

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:49 pm
by burke
Hi guys,

I've been PMing with Vasik about the cajons and thought I'd share now that I'm done. I built 2 cajons from the plans that Barry provided, the Cajon Tumbadora and the quinto (10 inch top).

I first built the tumbadora with a 1/4 inch top and 3/8th sides then built a second with 1/2 inch sides and a 1/8 inch top. The second sounded really basey and more like a djembe. I liked the first much more. So then I cut down the second to the 10 inch top size with a 1/4 inch top. That didn't sound so good, so I replaced the top with 1/8 inch ply ... much better (could have saved myself some bother if I'd read the thread better!).

Conclusions. Just like a drum, you want a thinner skin the smaller the playing surface. I'm not sure if the sides make any difference to the sound but when your are driving screws thicker plywood is much more forgiving (ie less likely to to end up with a screw end poping out the side!!)

For glue aficionados I use PL Premium Polyurethane Construction Adhesive for everything!

Darrell

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:47 pm
by guarachon63
nice to see the plans are getting some use, thanks, I hope you enjoy them. re the thinner top sounding too bassy, I don't know if it was my imagination or not but applying a couple of coats of varnish seemed to brighten up the sound a bit. Also some 1/8 inch ply is stiffer than others, some of it is very soft and floppy, seems like the stiffer it is the better the sound.

saludos
Barry

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2010 5:56 pm
by burke
Thanks Barry,

I'll try the varnish on top. I was going to just paint them, but will go with your suggestion.

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:03 am
by danno
Those Yoruba Andabo cojon photos made me think of the cajones that were given to me by Pancho Quinto and I wanted to post a photo. I also have a couple of cajones I purchased in Matanzas that I will post later.

[img]
Pancho%20Cajon.jpg
[/img]

danno

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:16 am
by bongosnotbombs
danno wrote:Those Yoruba Andabo cojon photos made me think of the cajones that were given to me by Pancho Quinto and I wanted to post a photo. I also have a couple of cajones I purchased in Matanzas that I will post later.

[img]
Pancho%20Cajon.jpg
[/img]

danno

A beautiful set of cajons. You are very lucky to have known Pancho quinto and to have a set of his instruments. Could you please tell us the dimensions of the bajo?

Re: Building cajon

PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:31 pm
by danno
Hi Gordie,

Don't know if you remember me, I bought one of your beautifully made guaguas last year.
The bass cajon is 22" long, 17" high. 9' wide. Looks like 1/8 and 1/4" ply.
Pancho told me 'ana gui' was a sacred tree.

dan