Building cajon

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Re: Building cajon

Postby bongosnotbombs » Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:13 pm

Hey Dan, thanks for taking the time to measure the cajon. Of course I remember selling you the guagua,
Canada right? The cool blog and the Gon Bops. How is that guagua holding up up there?
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Re: Building cajon

Postby guarachon63 » Tue Feb 23, 2010 5:30 pm

Dan those are beauts thanks for posting that. Prized possessions I am sure.

Burke, use the varnish inside and out, multiple coats.
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Re: Building cajon

Postby danno » Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:13 pm

Gordie,
the guagua is holding up well to the dry cold Canadian winter.

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Re: Building cajon

Postby burke » Sat Feb 27, 2010 11:23 pm

Hi all,

Had a chance to compare my cajons with Dan's real deal ones. The quinto was spot on but the tumba was wrong. Turns out the sound I wasn’t to keen on with the 1/8 inch top was the right one - now that I’ve put a new thin top on the tumba and had some time to play it I’ve come to love it. I think its as much figuring out where to hit it to get the sounds you want. They aren’t congas after all.

I am now officially done! (No really, this time).
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Re: Building cajon

Postby vasikgreif » Sat Apr 10, 2010 9:54 am

Hi everybody, after a while, here are mine's!
First I used screws to attach the heads, but I did get too much buzz for my taste, so I ended up gluing all the heads and now I'm pretty happy with the sound. The thing really is to find the right spot where to hit to get as clear sound as possible... I used varnish lacquer for the finish. Thanks for your help...
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Re: Building cajon

Postby p.a.dogs1 » Sat May 08, 2010 4:06 pm

Here are two prototypes of conga cajones
Area_100508-23.jpg

Area_100508-14.jpg
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Re: Building cajon

Postby burke » Sun May 09, 2010 12:37 am

Those look great! Did you close the bottoms? I'm wondering about the sound holes.

Darrell
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Re: Building cajon

Postby p.a.dogs1 » Sun May 09, 2010 10:05 am

Hi Darrell,

yes, the bottom is closed because I want to play them like a conga set. Maybe the diameter of the sound holes is too big. I have a pair of conga cajones of Valter Percussion (Stockholm/S), which have a very clear sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP2VSVwrDhA
They have open bottoms and additional sound holes.

I wanted sounds which have more box character - but better than f. e. these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz8MFMKhnjI&feature=related

The PRKs …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL45pRffjQc&feature=related
… have a great sound but not much volume. So I tried two cajones with the sizes of conga and tumba. The open tones sound great but the bass does not have the pressure I like. But I have already some ideas of modification.

Oliver
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Re: Building cajon

Postby Joseph » Thu Jun 10, 2010 2:29 am

Here’s a couple of Yoruba Andabo style cajons.

This was a recycling project, with a half sheet of plywood I salvaged from a remodeling job years ago.
I kept the plywood because of its quality: Douglas Fir 5ply ½”, no voids in plies, (the kind you rarely, if ever see anymore).

The only stumbling block to my using it previously was that one side had 3 coats of old paint: light blue, green and the surface color dull brown, so it just kicked around in my wood stack.

To me the really interesting looking cajons are the funky looking ones, like those Yoruba Andabo, and Pancho Quinto boxes, even those taped up ones…..they have an earthy and street-worn look about them…after all they are boxes, that get beat on.
Never any worries about the perfect finish.

Anyway, I decided to strip the paint off the ply to make a couple of funky looking cajons, with the weathered look of the old ply….however it looked under all that paint.

I started stripping paint using a heat gun.
Long story short…. It didn’t work too good...but it looked kinda cool, so I used it.

I used other plywood scraps for tops.
Tops are ¼” actually 3/16 “ glued and stapled.
I made the tops kind of fancy finish, red mahogany stain & lacquer

Funky on the sides, fancy on top.
I only had enough plywood to make 2: the Quinto II, and the Tumbadora.
Even if I made the others in the set, I’d never match that color finish.

Oh yeah, they sound great!
I especially like the Tumbadora, great tones throughout: bass, open, & slap.
I thing gluing top firmly is the key to good resonant sound, unless you are looking for a buzzy sound, in which case just nailing would suffice.

Thanks for making the plans available Barry. 8)
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P6090361.JPG
----------------Quinto II--------------------- Tumbadora
Last edited by Joseph on Thu Jun 10, 2010 4:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Building cajon

Postby burke » Thu Jun 10, 2010 12:40 pm

I think they look fantastic!
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Re: Building cajon

Postby bongosnotbombs » Sun Aug 08, 2010 7:26 am

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

I'm gearing up to make some cajons before too long. Dan I've got a question about the Pancho Quinto bajo, is that square hole on the side the only hole?
There isn't one in the back? and do you know how big the side hole is? I want to recreate this "Pancho Quinto" model.
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Re: Building cajon

Postby danno » Sun Aug 08, 2010 8:11 pm

Hi Gordie,

Yes that's the only hole and its 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches.

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Re: Building cajon

Postby bongosnotbombs » Mon Aug 23, 2010 7:21 pm

I just finished my bajo cajon the other day. It cam out really nice. I was going to do a "Pancho Quinto" model, but I ended up making a "Clave y Guaguanco" model to make better economy of wood as my friend wanted to make one using the dimensions found at Pacific Percussion.

The Clave y Guaguanco dimensions I found somewhere on the forum from an old post.

Yeah I know this post is useless without pictures. I'll have some up soon...
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Re: Building cajon

Postby bongosnotbombs » Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:26 pm

Okay, got some pictures taken finally. The big one is for a friend of mine. He still has to sand it and add a finish. I was expecting them to sound more different. But they sound about the same, with the bigger one being louder.
Attachments
DSCF2010.JPG
Ready for some yambu.
DSCF2013.JPG
DSCF2014.JPG
DSCF2012.JPG
Drawer pulls for feet and a trunk handle I had lying around.
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Re: Building cajon

Postby Congadelica » Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:47 pm

Nice work BnB, is that the template I used to build mine? the one Thomas supplied?
I recomend you get 4 felt stick on dots for the bottom wooden feet.

Real beauty, and I like the Flores, Aqui entre!

Marco
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