latest flatwork project. Cajons

[Sparky Paessler]

usually post over in the turners forum but i'm doing some flatwork for now. Here are a couple of Cajons (box drums) that I am finishing up. The box is solid walnut with dovetail joints and the fronts are 1/8" 6 ply aircraft grade plywood. To customize them I printed out some customer requested pictures and imbedded them into the finish on the front. One is complete and the other (blue) just needs a couple of coats of finish to be complete. They have an adjustible Snare mechanism in them.

[Floyd Cox]

I had to go to YouTube to see what a Cajon box drum was, Nice build you have there.

[Ted Calver]

Very nice! I love the grain on the walnut and the photos make them very personal. Great idea. How do they sound??

[Sparky Paessler]

Ted

Thanks! I do not have a musical ear so I really can't tell how they sound. I did however have a Grammy award winning drummer play on one that I had sent my son up in NY and he said it was the best sounding Cajon he had ever played. He said most Cajons sounded "hollow" and that this one had a nice "wood" sound. Might have to do with the solid walnut case instead of the presswood that most are made of. Anyway made me feel really good about them. I have made 4 total and three of them have been used on Albums so far.

[Sparky Paessler]

Floyd

Thanks! Don't feel too bad, when my son first approached me about building one I had no idea what it was. Had a nephew ask me recently if I would turn him some Muddlers. Had to go online to see what a Muddler was!

[Keith Outten]

Sparky,

Aaron Koehl bought a Cajon several months ago and I have had the opportunity to check it out. Aaron is a musician so I have been thinking about building a custom Cajon that he might enjoy. I have checked out dozens of YouTube videos on construction techniques however I haven't seen one made like yours. Solid wood makes sense to me, I think I'll give it a go.

Check out the Pearl web site and look at the accessories
.

[Gordon Eyre]

I join the lineup of people that don't know what a Cajon is but your woodworking is sure nice.

[Ted Calver]

Sparky, Is the back just rabbited in, or attached some other way?

[Sparky Paessler]

Sparky, Is the back just rabbited in, or attached some other way?

Ted, it is just rabbited in. The sides, bottom and top are 3/4" and dovetailed. The back is 1/2". For the snare I bought a drum snare from Amazon and cut it in half the halls are screwed to a dowel. One of the knobs kits you rotate the the dowel to set how much snare sound and the other knob locks it into place. The hole in the back is 5".

[Sparky Paessler]

Sparky,

Aaron Koehl bought a Cajon several months ago and I have had the opportunity to check it out. Aaron is a musician so I have been thinking about building a custom Cajon that he might enjoy. I have checked out dozens of YouTube videos on construction techniques however I haven't seen one made like yours. Solid wood makes sense to me, I think I'll give it a go.

Check out the Pearl web site and look at the accessories
.

Keith, if you decide to build one I would be glad to send you a plan of what I did and some more detailed pictures of the snare mech. so you could see better how I did it. Also what I ordered and from where.

[Keith Outten]

Sparky,

Thanks, I sent you a PM with my contact information.
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