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Written by Casey
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Friday, August 14 2009 14:43 |
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Page 1 of 12
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Last update: February 13th, 2010 - readers respond section
This article documents the design and creation of a cajon. Hopefully it can help you to make a cajon yourself.
I wanted to build a cajon and found a lack of material online to support that endeavor, so I have put together this article. Comments/corrections welcome (see form below). This is a great project for musical people that are interested in instrument design but aren't quite ready to jump into something like a guitar.
It is properly spelled "cajón", but in case search engines don't pick up the word correctly, "cajon" is used here. The plural is "cajónes", which is distinct from the better-known "cojones".
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You can watch this cajon in action in the video below -- "Give You a Word" from the album g-g-g-ghosts?. (The cajon is featured especially during the instrumental part starting at 4:35 and lasting to the end, but you can't seek ahead until the video is loaded.) I believe that the cajon in the video did not have the newer/better snare system described later in this article, but it still sounds OK. ( Laptop users: use headphones or you won't hear the kick sound...)
To watch the video on this page you'll need to enable Flash objects.
I know.
Alternately, you might need to update your Flash plugin.
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Use the navigation bar on the right to read this article.
See the cajon links section for many other resources that may be useful to you.
Here are the plans for the cajon depicted on this article, in various formats: pdf| png| jpeg| illustrator
This article owes the biggest thanks to Germán Ocaña who provided most of the information required. Check out his webpage, he makes professional-level cajones and other instruments. He has two main PDFs that I saw regarding the cajon. The english in the first is pretty rough, and the second is in Spanish, but even for non-speakers they are invaluable nonetheless.
This article will assume that you have read these documents. This article is intended as a supplement.
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Last Updated on Saturday, February 27 2010 21:18 |
Like i said am not a pro or anything else but love the sound of this instrument.
The one i built is 18 inches tall by 12 inches wide. i did not install any type of resonating devices in it, just pure sound from what the tapa (face) would make.
I use it for the first time today at church, like i said am not a pro, but i got good results.
Thank you for all the vital information you have share with everybody else.
Thanks