How To Build a Cajon - Other Links

Return to Main Site

Projects & Stuff

Written by Casey

Friday, August 14 2009 14:43

Article Index
How To Build a Cajon
Goals
Wood and Frame
Hole
Gluing
Door and Feet
Snares
Finishing Touches
Micing and Audio
Other Links
Readers Respond
License
All Pages

Page 10 of 12

Other Links:

No article about musical instrument tinkering is complete without a link to the book Musical Instrument Design by Bart Hopkin. Offers all kinds of generalized information about materials, theory, ideas, etc. Though nothing in this book specifically changed the design shown here, it's a great resource, a great source of ideas (e.g. snare tensioning systems), and a must-have for home instrument DIY folks. EMI is also super-cool.
tonecajon.com gallery - some beautiful cajon images, useful for ideas
thomann.de is selling cajon building kits. From their website, it looks like they are available in many nations. Didn't see a US outlet -- perhaps high shipping costs would be incurred?
A Dutch woodworker's directions on building (MS-Word files): English | Dutch
Dale Stewart's cajon build page
Collection of various forum messages on the subject - some general stuff, but also some measurements, specific instructions, etc.
Older Germán Ocaña PDF (Español)
Another older Germán Ocaña PDF: Español (PDF) | English (MS-Word)
Picture of one non-expert person's design - see the links section for the "fancier shop" for more on this image
"how to build a cajon" page - not so detailed, not maintained (from Google cache, lacks images)
Trying to build a cajon - YouTube. Not super-informative, fairly redundant, and mostly about the frame, but maybe it will lead to something. A good reminder that one can use screws and glue in combination in lieu of clamps.
Computer graphics - YouTube. Apparently from Germán Ocaña. Very similar to this design. Might help with the visualization.
More computer graphics - YouTube. Tantalizing and short. No particular details given.
Playful image of a person's impressions of how bass waves in their trapezoidal cajon might interact with a piezo pickup/soundboard combination inside.
Cajon built in a much fancier shop than my basement by non-cajon-experts.
cajondrumming.com - a young website similar in some ways to this one, but more wide-ranging.
Cajon Fu - a VSTi plugin for digital audio
Wikipedia page on the cajon
Cajon Peruano - click on "Peruvian Cajon" on the right for some history of the cajon
Plenty of cajon playing demonstrations on YouTube, and of course you can always Google for more cajon information. Lots of little discussions on woodworking and percussion sites about building them.

<< Prev - Next >>

Last Updated on Thursday, April 08 2010 16:01

Add a comment if you like...

Your name:
Title:
Comment:

Word verification:

Comments (16)

Thank you

16 Tuesday, September 07 2010 10:41

Celeste

Thank you for all the info ad the pictures. I been looking around to see how a cajon is made and this page has helped me a lot. Great work.

wood, etc.

15 Friday, September 03 2010 10:51

mgmt

@Job:

Re: wood, see page 3, called, cleverly, "Wood and Frame": http://caseyconnor.org/jl/cajon?start=2 -- As far as species of wood are concerned, I doubt it makes much difference, since we're talking about laminate plywood here.

Re: Ocana, see the intro page, "Germán Ocaña".

Wood type

14 Friday, September 03 2010 01:18

Job van Dieten

thank you for the advice. i have one more question. are there certain types of wood trhat are more preferable or better-sounding than others. And may i ask who/what Ocana is, i have to acredit this in my bibliography.

...

13 Wednesday, August 11 2010 17:25

mgmt

> what is the thickness for the tapa? im trying to build this cajon drum but im having problems making the snare thing.

Hi -

For the tapa, see page 3, called, cleverly, "wood and frame": http://caseyconnor.org/jl/cajon?start=2

For the snares, see page 7, called, cleverly, "snares": http://caseyconnor.org/jl/cajon?start=6

Good luck,
-Casey

tapa

12 Wednesday, August 11 2010 17:13

joe

what is the thickness for the tapa? im trying to build this cajon drum but im having problems making the snare thing.

Hole, Nailing/Gluing

11 Wednesday, July 28 2010 10:34

mgmt

Hi -

@Job - see http://caseyconnor.org/jl/cajon?start=3 for info about the hole size issues. The size doesn't seem to matter so much, in my experience. The function of the hole is to "let the bass out", in a simple sense; the cajon "kick" sound is making a "thud" wavefront. Without the hole, the thud hangs out inside the box and doesn't come across as loudly. My personal conviction (as explained at that link) is that the hole isn't part of a "Helmholtz" model, where it "tunes" an air spring, so much as it just prevents the air pressure of the internal space from preventing the tapa from moving and allows the thud wavefront to escape. If the tapa vibrated like a traditional drum head membrane, then the hole might be relevant, as when playing a djembe you can insert or remove a fist in the hole to change the pitch of the drum.

Gluing/nailing: see http://caseyconnor.org/jl/cajon?start=4 -- nailing or screwing into the edge of standard laminate plywood doesn't really work, so you basically need to glue. Ocana also recommends this for the sake of a good air seal via the glue. The exception, sometimes, is the tapa, which you screw into the frame (the frame is in turn glued to the inside of the plywood). Some people also glue the tapa, but i prefer to leave mine removable.

@Richard - Yeah, generally the back panel is the same as the sides, with 12mm or thicker plywood (glued all around). It's important that the cajon be sturdy/rigid. Regarding the snares, see http://caseyconnor.org/jl/cajon?start=6 ... I agree that the string-snares are not satisfying. There are a number of other ideas on that page, as well as links.

Glad the site is helpful,
-Casey

glueing or nails?

10 Wednesday, July 28 2010 00:41

Job van Dieten

Is it better to glue or nail the cajon together? And why?

Making a cajon

9 Wednesday, July 28 2010 00:37

Job van Dieten

I am designing and creating a cajon for a school project neccesarry to finish the school and get my diploma. what is the relation between the size of the cajon and the hole? is the function of the hole to amplify the sound or to add an other sound function?

Still working on the snares

8 Thursday, July 15 2010 08:32

Richard Cowling

I built a Cajon 3 weeks ago, using plywood I had around. 12mm for sides, top and bottom, 3.6 mm for tapa and back panel, but the back panel was doubled up. really just a trial and will buy some better quality faced ply one day. I took some ideas from this site so thank you: I though I would respond with what I discovered.

My original design borrowed your first snare idea, but across one corner only thinking that I could have a 'slap + snare' corner plus a 'slap only' corner. The snares were not very successful: if given a lot of tension they produced a distracting sort of hum. Now I have them slack and with a few loose wires wrapped around which is OK played lightly but I am working on alternatives and will post here if I have a breakthrough.

I did find that there was a nasty resonance from the back panel even though it was well screwed on, and cured that by using frameseal (the stuff that goes around window frames) applied from the inside (with the Tapa removed). I also glued a chunk of MDF to the inside of the back panel to deaden it. The bass seemed more solid after that.

Just for fun, we put an ordinary cheap PC mic inside it and played it through a computer sound card: if you want to hear that, and see the cajon, go to youtube.com/expertanswers.

Even without a microphone I am amazed at the range of sounds and dynamics you can extract from what is just a box.

New design

7 Wednesday, May 19 2010 19:56

Zack

Nate, i would like to use the same technique you used if you say that it is a better design. Let me know! Thanks

Port Hole / Helmholtz

6 Monday, May 17 2010 18:15

CaseyC

Thanks David - please do report back if you do this experiment. My impression is that the helmholtz model doesn't apply very well; i originally kept the hole cut-out from my cajon with the idea that i would incorporate it as a "slide" over the hole, allowing me to vary the effective hole size and thus the kick pitch. In practice, it made no difference in the pitch (like, at all). In other words, i'm not sure there is really any resonance or vibration happening with the tapa; it seems like it is more of a "thud" wavefront. Perhaps with tapas of other sorts this would be different. Perhaps a tube would have a more dramatic influence. I'm curious too, so i look forward to anything you come up with. Thanks!

Port Hole

5 Monday, May 17 2010 13:56

David Hancock

I was wondering if it wouldn't make more sense to do something with the hole similar to what someone would do when designing a speaker and tune the cajon with a port tube. This would make it more of a Helmholtz resonator. The air inside the port tube would resonate and provide a boost in low end frequency depending on the length and diameter of the port. For instance, if the interior volume of the cajon is roughly 1.9 cu. ft. then a 3" inside diameter port with a length of 8.5" would have a tuning frequency of 30 Hz. There would be a 12 decibel per octave roll off below that frequency. At those frequencies it would not matter where the port hole was located as the wavelengths are quite long at those frequencies. I do plan on building one to experiment with this summer. I will be sure to keep you informed of my progress.

Reply to Nate

4 Tuesday, April 20 2010 00:55

Dietz

I would be interested in more exact instructions Nate
Thanks

comments...

3 Monday, March 22 2010 16:02

mgmt

Sorry, had an issue with the commenting system (fixed now). Here are two comments in response to "instead of using guitar stirngs or a snare":

-----------------
I am thinking about building my own canjon and your experience will be very helpful I think! Can't you create a blog or something like that and share your experience? I'm sure there is many people that will appreciate!
-----------------
Yeah same here!
-----------------

-Casey

Making a new cajon

2 Sunday, February 07 2010 11:14

Gervacio Garcia

I was recently introduced to this instrument by a friend from my church, I decided to build a cajon based on the dimensions and features from the one we have at church and from the information you have posted.
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

instead of using guitar strings or a snare

1 Thursday, January 28 2010 05:13

nate

a different way of making your own cajon is too use small pieces of bamboo or just a bunch of wooden rods they should be a little more than a quarter of the length of your cajon and about the size of a instide of a bic pen(the part that hold the ink), basically you run them up and down which would be perpendicular from the bottom and top of your cajon. So you take your bamboo or wood sticks and line them up all nice on the inside of the front side, after you have them lined you want to glue them at the bottom of the sticks(the side closest to the ground)leave the top unglued so the bamboo has room to reverberate then you take a piece of wood that will connect to the front (basically this piece of wood is used to hold the bamboo in place it is placed parrallel to the floor a little less than half of the way up the bamboo sticks connect that piece to the frame you made that fits the front (where most directions tell you to connect the guitar strings). Another thing to keep in mind is that the front top of your cajon should have some play in it basically you should have screws that can adjust the front to get the snare sound. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND LOOKING?PLAYING A CAJON AT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC STORE (hopefully you are lucky enough to have a store that carries a cajon or two) Basically i built my first cajon following the instructions above plus a little extra except i used snare wires instead of guitar strings, then i had the pleasure of playing a cajon in dales drums and i examined the build of the ones there. Building my next cajon i had a much better design and got much better results. if you would like more exact instructions let me know i would be happy to help.