How to make a cajon w/snare

http://stagedive-records.com/cajonhomemade

When my former percussionist brought a cajon to rehearsal I was intrigued but put-off because of the way I
thought it had to be played, bending way over to reach the striking surface, or Tapa. But, after I heard the
playback I was hooked. It sounded so cool and homemade, but kind of like a drum kit, with snare and kick.

I thought, if you had a crash you indeed would have an acoustic percussive instrument that could imitate a
drum kit. But, it would be hard to hit a crash cymbal bending over like that. Then I saw many different
configurations of the cajon, in many different sizes and shapes. And many you don't have to play bending
over. I have this problem with my back and so does my percussionist, so it was nice to see that you can
definitely play it standing or sitting up. And as it turns out, do it in an interesting way that records easily and
well. The ones on youtube that were miked in the hole sounded great. You could really get a loud, thumping
beat. Pumping it through a big PA, you could rival the volume of a drum kit.

When I looked online at how a cajon is made, I was amazed at the wealth of information out there. Many
different plans, videos and diagrams on how they are made, what they sound like and how the cajon
originated is available online. Just Google 'how to make a cajon'.

I printed out several plans from the net. It seemed like each plan left out some key details and so, puttting
them all together gave me a more complete vision of how to make it. I have to be able to visualize the
finished product and most of it's detail in my mind before I can feel confident enough to make it.

Materials

Wood: One sheet of 2'x4' 1/2" plywood
One sheet of 2'x4' 1/4" plywood
3/4"x3/4" hardwood square dowel
1"x2" furring strip

Orchard supply and Lowe's both had a good selection and low prices for
the wood. The half inch birch plywood was $13 and the quarter-inch was
$8. They've got the hardwood square dowels and furring strips, too.

4 guitar tuners and 4 bass guitar strings or a snare drum snare
20 or so screws OSH Wood screw brass, flat head phillips 7x3/4
Wood glue - Elmer's was lot cheaper than Gorilla and worked just fine
Minwax Wood Finish - Dark Walnut 2716 Stain/sealer

Tools
Circular or table saw
Jigsaw
VSR Drill or screwdriver
Clamps

I already had some painted, half-inch plywood and so I
used that for the three sides and top and bottom. As it
turned out my wood was a little warped and I couldn't see
where the blade was cutting with precision so I got some
pretty crooked lines that made for a box that was not
square. I now wish I would have started with a new piece
of birch plywood. The whole thing would have been more
square. And therefore would have been easier to glue and
would have looked a lot better. If I build another cajon, I'll
use a new piece of plywood and not paint it, but just
stain/seal it with Minwax Wood Finish.
I first drilled a small hole with the drill, big enough to get
the Jigsaw blade in it and then cut the 4-inch soundhole.

Here are the three 1/2" sides, the back, left and right. I
made a big mistake by painting them again with a gloss
Rustoleum, which is very slippery and made it even more
difficult to clamp and hold steady.
Bar clamps holding the sides glued with
wood glue. I let them dry overnight, but
found out just an hour or two in fall
weather was enough. Got the clamps at
Harbor Freight tools for about $5 each

I neglected to photograph the cutting,
glueing and clamping of the hardwood
frame, which was made of 3/4" square
dowels from Orchard Supply hardware.
But, once that was accomplished it was
just a matter of glueing and clamping
the frame to the sides of the body. There
again the crooked lines in the sawing of
the three sides made for problems at
this juncture. But, with enough clamping
it was forced into contact, no matter
how not square it was.
I found some old tuning keys from a
couple of beat up, old electric guitars I
had laying around and attached them to
to 6-inch piece of furring strip. Found
out later, as I installed the bass guitar
strings that the fatter bass strings would
not fit in the holes on the guitar tuners,
but the thinner, (.050 - .058 gauge)
bass strings would fit.

With bass tuners you could use a fatter
string and maybe get a fatter, slappier
sound on the Tapa.

I also tried regular guitars strings and
they were not functional at all. Because
they are so much smaller they tend to
rattle and ring too much, making a
musical note and would vibrate and
linger too long, getting in the way of the
percussive, rhythmic attack.



I do think that a snare drum snare would
work perhaps even better. Which is what
most of the factory-made cajons use.
But, I was attempting to make this with
as much materials I had on hand.
The strings must slap against the Tapa
to make the slapping sound, so they
have to be touching or lying against the
Tapa. Here I drilled holes for the strings
and tried some grooves to further seat
the strings right against the Tapa. It
was a trial and error process to find the
best position for the strings. I noticed
the hardwood frame was so much more
stable than the soft plywood.

The finished product with all it's crooked
corners and warped surfaces. It took some
tweaking of the tuners and strings to get it
to sound good. A slappy, snarey sound with
not too much overring. The strings
shouldn't be too tight, which is easy to do
with the tuners. I also added a small piece
of masking tape to hold the strings against
the Tapa and cut down on the ringing.

There again, the snare drum snare would
probably work better. But, since I am a
guitarist the whole idea of using bass
guitar strings was attractive