Building cajon

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Building cajon

Postby vasikgreif » Wed Feb 03, 2010 3:55 pm

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...
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Re: Building cajon

Postby guarachon63 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:13 pm

search this forum for keywords: cajon yoruba andabo

saludos
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Re: Building cajon

Postby vasikgreif » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:23 pm

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?
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Re: Building cajon

Postby bongosnotbombs » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:38 pm

:arrow:
Last edited by bongosnotbombs on Wed Feb 03, 2010 7:15 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: Building cajon

Postby guarachon63 » Wed Feb 03, 2010 5:40 pm

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.
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Re: Building cajon

Postby vasikgreif » Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:58 pm

Would be really nic from you if you could post here some closeup pictures for inspiration. Thanks!
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Re: Building cajon

Postby guarachon63 » Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:40 am

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
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Re: Building cajon

Postby vasikgreif » Tue Feb 09, 2010 8:08 am

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?
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Re: Building cajon

Postby guarachon63 » Thu Feb 11, 2010 3:24 am

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.
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Re: Building cajon

Postby burke » Sun Feb 21, 2010 11:49 pm

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!

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Re: Building cajon

Postby guarachon63 » Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:47 pm

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.

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Re: Building cajon

Postby burke » Mon Feb 22, 2010 5:56 pm

Thanks Barry,

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

Postby danno » Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:03 am

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]

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Re: Building cajon

Postby bongosnotbombs » Tue Feb 23, 2010 4:16 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

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?
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Re: Building cajon

Postby danno » Tue Feb 23, 2010 12:31 pm

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.

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