Let's Make a Cajon!

By Victoria Perez on August 28, 2024

Written By: Zane UNT Spark Maker

Hello everyone! In our previous post by Zane we got to learn about Cajons and the one that he created here at the Spark Makerspace! To make the Cajon, we used the video titled How to Make a Cajon [Complete Guide] 2020 by Cambia La Cara Percussion on Youtube as an initial guide.

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Here’s what you are going to need!

• Cutting Wood
• Nail Gun
• Jig or Circular Saw
• Drill
• Router
• Sandpaper and orbital sander
• Paint brushes or paint gun
• Furniture Feet

Let’s get Started!

1. Prepare the back panel, cutting wood to size. Once the rough cut is made, mark where the back sound hole will be. Add an additional layer of material to enhance bass frequencies.
2. Cut the top, bottom, and side panels. Glue and nail gun it up against a square surface. The rough shape of the cajon, minus the playing surface, should be finished.
3. Cut the sound hole out of the back panel. A large hole bit for a drill could work, but I cut it with our laser cutter. The diameter is 115mm.
4. There are additional frame slats that give the cajon more structure. These have tricky diagonal holes drilled in them, the details are from the linked YouTube video.
5. These holes are then countersunk and they are what the guitar strings lace through.
6. They then are placed on the top and bottom of the front of the cajon, and nailed/glued in.
7. The side frame slats are also cut and glued/nailed in.

Once the main frame of the cajon is completed we need to work on the Tapa.

1. The tapa has specific measurements for screw placement to make sure there’s even tension. This is also detailed in the YouTube video. These screw holes are pre drilled and countersunk so that the screwheads lay flush.
2. The main body can now be smoothed over with a router, we used a ½ in round over bit. Afterwards we attached the Tapa by lining it up with the body and marking/drilling the holes to attach it.
3. Round over the Tapa and sound hole now, every surface of the cajon should now be smooth with no hard angles.

Then we need to sand and finish the Cajon.

1. Remove tapa so that the body and tapa can be finished individually.
2. Start at 120 grit and smooth over the entire cajon, removing any blemishes from the router. Work the sandpaper up to 600, then 1200. The cajon should be extremely smooth before finishing.
3. Using a water-based polyurethane, start painting thin layers all around the cajon. A paint gun is recommended, but brushing lightly will work. In between each coat, sand with 1200 grit sandpaper until smooth. Repeat adding coats and sanding until a glass-like finish is achieved. The Spark’s Cajon ended up using 6 coats to achieve the finished look.
4. Screw in the furniture feet.
5. Add screws to the top slat for guitar strings. Then using the hardware and setup from the YouTube video, lace the guitar string through the holes of the front slats. Wind it with the keyhole bolt.
6. Wrap the remaining string around screws in the top slat.
7. Staple gun the elastic bands into the side slats underneath the guitar string. This presses the strings against the tapa to achieve the flamenco snare sound.
8. Finally screw the tapa into place.

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Now you have your very own Cajon! Thank you, Zane, for taking on this journey of making the Cajon, and thank you, reader, for stopping by the Spark blog. We look forward to seeing what YOU can create at The Spark!

Video Reference

• Percussion, Cambialacara. “How to Make a Cajon [Complete Guide] 2020.” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCStCITnhqY. Accessed 21 Aug. 2024