Project title: custom-built Cajon drum (possibly with adjustable snare)
Description: a Cajon drum is a percussion instrument that can create the sound of a drum kit but can also be used in other applications such as a solo or in situations where drum kits would be too loud. It consists of the body which is a wooden box, a snare placed inside the box to create sound texture, and a hole in the back for spreading the vibration. My goal for this project is to make the box as perfect as possible and try out different patterns using different woods in the side walls. If everything works well, I may consider making the snare attachment adjustable.
Motivation:
i have been wanting to buy a Cajon for a long time but haven’t got the time to actually try one out in the music shop. So I want to take the chance and make one myself, if it worked then great, if it sounds terrible at least I could give this as a gift to someone else (lol).
Three examples of objects:
p1: solid wood cajon using maple and walnut, front and back panels are ply
p2: wood pattern on the sides, absolutely beautiful but really hard to get uniform shapes
p3: looks like a solid piece of wood is used for the side panels.
The biggest difference is how the side panels are made. And also how the walls are joined together. The first one uses box joint which I think would be time-consuming, plus I am not a big fan of that aesthetic. However, p1 is probably the way I am going to design my walls, just different kinds of wood with big color contrast in stripes of different width. I think that would make a very pretty design. For the joint I would go for the design in p2 and 3, I think it hides the seam well, especially 2.
There are no specific artists I could find who specify in making cajons but there are certainly lots of videos online……
Build plan:
Stock: two to three colors of wood that have fairly high contrast and are fairly strong. Like maple, walnut, and whatever that red panel used to demonstrate book matching was……
Construction steps:
(depending on the design, subject to change)
make the side panels: cut different types of stock into roughly the same thickness and width, glue and plane.
joints: make hidden joints with table saw.
figure out how to install the snare.
drill hole in the back panel.
assemble all the walls except the front
install the snare
add the front panel.
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