I'm not 100% satisfied with the sound, I think because of the maybe too thick batter head, it sounds a little bit too "slappy", if you know what I mean.....open tone is missing!
My understanding was always that on the Cuban cajon the wooden head was supposed to be strongly adhered to the shell to give purer bass and tone sounds closer to those from a conga drum. Flamenco and Peruvian cajons were made to be a bit less refined, loose screws, added snares, inshort, far more funk and noise.
But is this asessment accurate? I do know that old drawers would be used in the Habana solars for yambu, and those things had to sound REAL funky. Ditto any codfish or candel boxes.
guarachon63 wrote:I seem to recall from the Ortiz "Los Instrumentos" books a description of how the candle and codfish boxes were dismantled and the wood soaked then left to dry in the sun (?) and then re-assembled and horse-glued together. So if I am recalling correctly there were from the early days attempts to get a tighter, more resonant sound.
PS: Sound aside, it is a beautiful box, but I have to admit I raised my eyebrows at the insertion of the snares in the bass cajon. Of course we all have our tastes, but my experience has been that the snare sound on the caja is not typical of the Cuban cajon sound but rather more common in Peruvian and Flamenco.
ralph wrote:Jorge, do you know why artisans use this technique in barril construction?
tamboricua wrote:By soakening it in water the wood expands again and seals leaving no air spaces or cracks. Jesus Cepeda employs this techinque when making barriles.
Saludos,
Jorge Ginorio
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