My DIY Cajon build.

I might try taking one of your "snare" devices off temporarily to see if that gives you more tone options. You could also try taping some of the wires together so there's less chance of buzz when you don't want it.
 
thanks
well the jingle stick was a failure (for now) but the actual cajon is finished! Here she is in all her oiled glory. In a few days time I’ll try to get her to the studio for a recording.
And the cost:
Rubber feet: £2.57
Ply wood and cuts: £18
Wood glue: £5
Brass screws: £3.10
Linseed oil: £3.75
Pine batton: £2
Old Curtain rod: 0
Old snare wire: 0
Thin tapa ply: 0
Various sand paper and making good: maybe £10

Estimated total cost: £45.42
 

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Jason I salute your DIY-ness. Looks great! Plus you have me interested in cajons now.
 
I've never seen one of those ports on a cajon ever... Are you not liking the bass tone on your new creation?
 
lol - my son has to bring a plant to school, planted in an unusual object. i have a bunch of old brass instruments (already stricpped for spares) that i'm planning to make a water feature out of.

Jinglestick mark II
The original was upright and the jingles er… jangled when I hit a bass note. So I cut it in half and mounted it sideways with a little spring plate I found in my scratch and spares box (I never throw anything away). It works perfectly! To make it I had some thin aluminium plates from somewhere and I laminated them with ply and jingles (from an old broken hihat tambourine).
Here is the big installation.
Followed by a close up.
 

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At this rate, I think MTV is going to feature you on its next episode of "Pimp My Cajon". Beautiful work, man!
 
I took the tappa off to add a longer bass port. I found this old turned wooden keg in a charity shop – luckily it was the perfect diameter (pic 1).

here it is installed with some weights (pic 2).

and here is what it looks like from the outside (pic 3).

and here is the paintjob and final fixings for the extra perc add-ons (pic 4).
 

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Great job.............definitely the most interesting Cajon I've ever seen.........................are you satisfied with the sound?
 
I am really curious how you feel about your final product. I am currently building two cajons right now as holiday gifts and am trying to decide on my sound hole placement as well as shape.

Did you find that bringing the hole closer to the drum head (tappa) gave you a punchier sound? My fear is losing some of the warm tone and resonance that you gain from the whole box. That is just my engineering mind thinking though not actual musical experience with working on cajons. Also have people been using both sides of the 40 strand snare usually or just one side?

Over all it is a beautiful final product. Just curious if you enjoyed it as well.
 
Hi,
Total newbie to Cajon but not music or woodworking (I play guitar bass piano and have built furniture from rough sawn lumber)

I want to build one of these for my daughter. I have a few questions that I'm hoping you all can help me with...

  1. Wood...I have some solid maple that I can plane down to what ever size i want...Can I use solid maple and how will that affect the tone?
  2. I'm thinking of making the front 1/8" thick and the back 1/4" thick. Will that give me good sound?
  3. Will different woods on the front give me different tonal qualities like on a guitar?
  4. If yes what would you recommend as a good front wood for an all maple box?
  5. Your build is the first build that has a cone on the hole. What is it's function? Why the tube?
  6. I have used oil based, water based polyurethane as well as danish and tung oil as finnishes. Is less more when it comes to finish? Meaning a thiner finish will give me a more responsive or expressive box?
  7. Finally...am I over thinking this? I want it to be a birthday present for my Daughters 16th birthday and want it to be special and unique. I have intermediat to advanced wood working skills but I want this to sound as good as I may be able to make it look.

Thank you!
 
dude....this is so cool it made my day!! i would love to hear how it sounds! could you maybe make a video of it being played? awesome work, im both inspired and jealous haha!
 
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