max kelly retro graphic design
 

snare and bass cajon drums

 

 

 

 

 

 

The silver knob slides in and out to activate the snare belt inside.

Custom Snare Cajon Design by Max Kelly
It may look like a funky speaker cabinet and have a name that is similar to a Spanish word for something else(!) but a cajon (Spanish for crate) is actually an  instrument. Far from its apparent origins as a makeshift break-time instrument among dock workers at South American ports (that's the crate part), contemporary models have become more refined and can frequently be seen in small ensembles–especially flamenco.

The backside of the closed wooden box usually has a resonating hole like a guitar, while the front side  is made of a very thin plywood which acts as the drum head. The drummer plays it as he sits on it. Pretty cool arrangement.

I made these cajones a bit bigger than most for a deeper bass  sound. The snare model (with the  silver knob) features a sliding carriage which allows the drummer to quickly convert the  bass cajon into a "snare cajon". By depressing  the  knob, the interior   snare ribbon comes away from the damper and snugs up to the 1/16" head. With a quick pull it retracts, returning  the cajon to a pure bass sound.


 

View of the sliding snare carriage
The silver knob allows the drummer to slide the
carriage in or out, activating or muffling the interior snare ribbon.


   
Samples

Cajon & Conga begins with a cajon track, followed by my conga overdub and an electronic loop in the background.

Cajon, Solo has nothing but a single track of cajon, so you can hear much more clearly what the bass sound is .

Groove features the snare aspect of the cajon, but played with brushes. In this case I'm playing along with Jay Webber on this new tune of his.

And on With Bix I'm backing up my grandmother's old boyfriend, Bix Beiderbeck! (Yeah, she really went out with him back in the Quad Cities before she met my grandfather, Jim Kelly).

Additional Recordings

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