My other ride

I built a very different kind of drum machine box! Here I am pleased to announce my new cajon!

Ok, so not really directly related to Zynthian hardware, but I couldn’t figure where else to post it on here. It will be zynthian enabled though. When I built this cajon, I made sure to fit some piezo’s and 1/4" jack’s, so if I am lucky, I might be able to use it as a midi drum trigger as well as an acoustic instrument.

Post pics of your favourite none zynthian instruments please!

6 Likes

Uh, Ah, Oh, here!!! I made also some Cajons:

The upper one was a kit. The lower ones are selfmade (the dark one made my daughter).

.

The upper one has a simple snare drum wire. The others have old guitar strings of my E-guitar and snare drum wires with a mechanism for adjusting the tension (see above).

Ah, that’ a cool idea! I will write it on my TODO-list-of-death!

Your cajon has a very nice painting!

Regards, Holger

3 Likes

yes, lovely

I feel less alone :rofl:

1 Like

My daughter loves Totoro, but i have to confess, it is a sticker, not a painting :stuck_out_tongue:

My cajon was from a kit too, but i’m sure that next time, i will be more keen to make some fancy thing like yours :smiley:

1 Like

You could build the entire zynth in it and provide a couple of piezo’s and a footswitch or two . . .

1 Like

I literally just finished building this one… must be your turn :smiley: :smiley:

Give the Roland ec-10 a run for it’s money. Make a Cajon sound like a car-horn.

Toot toot!

1 Like

@pmatilai is literally all over that first cajon… :grin:

Yeah I’m not quite sure what to think of somebody wanting to put me on a box intended for slapping :rofl:

1 Like

Cool, I like this little ‘step aside’ item. I personally build tube amps (everything from the circuit to the housing), electric guitars and things like that ; I also used massif oak to personalise my Zynthian, I don’t know if that may be a good reason to link your thread back to the Zynthian ? :wink:

I was so inspired by this thread (a politer way of saying jealous, perhaps) that I fired up my table saw, router and laser cutter to make a cajon as well! All made from scrap parts I had lying about. Put the last coat of varnish on it bright and early this morning to have it ready in time for my son’s birthday today!

It’s got an adjustable snare, but no piezos. That’s for v2!

6 Likes

That’s an absolutely great birthday gift !!!
(well a telecaster with a 100W tube amp is cool too :wink: but much more expensive and it doesn’t have this “hand made with love” touch)

2 Likes

Thanks! I engraved a secret birthday greeting in the bottom. I would have liked to add some more laser engraving for the sides, but the panels were too big to fit into my laser cutter.

1 Like

May I ask : Some good internet resource to look at for self building this kind of stuff ?

firstly, I thought that it was some commercial marks on a banal plywood box coming direct from China that you have reused for building the Cajun :rofl:

I used these two videos as references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0cvYoAzCGQ&t=515s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P813DzcRvFg. The second is a lesson in woodworking! My work is certainly not at that level. My laser cutter bed isn’t large enough for the snare adjustment mechanism, so I tweaked the design so that it would fit.

Cool stuff!
I guess this is the moment for me to jump in…I build my own tube amps (from the cab to the circuit to the testing, everything from a to Z) since age 17. (I’m 48 now :no_mouth:)

Here’s my latest one;

It’s a sort of hybrid between the 5A3 and the 6AU6 circuitry. Only NOS tubes (6V6 on output) Hammond trannies, Celestion Alnico Blue speaker.

I also build electric guitars and restore classic Mustangs but that really is another ride altogether!!

8 Likes

I can show you how to do the straight dovetails using a small milling machine you can mount under a table, it’s really not very difficult if you’re a construction type of person

@Vincent : well done! This guitar amp looks very nice and very well built. May we hear how it sounds ? :face_with_monocle: :rofl:
@wolfpaw98: thank you for the links. My main doubts and interrogations are regarding the overall size, position and diameter of the hole, thickness and rigidity of the different parts … so that it sounds well tuned. But maybe that’s not so important at all !

@le51 you can actually hear it in the guitar loops on the latest little track
I posted in the other thread!
@wolfpaw98 the dimensions are very important but whatever you choose to build that’s how it will sound.
Meaning that the cajon you build for your son will have it’s own sound.
I for one simply used the exact dimensions, wood and thickness as the 1957 Fender Tweed Deluxe 5A3 amp, but I guess any dimensions would do, it might just change te sound (a little).
Anyway you will make your son very happy with this oh so personal gift!!