On 4/24/17 9:17 PM, Greg Guarino wrote:
On Monday, April 24, 2017 at 9:46:10 PM UTC-4, -MIKE- wrote:
On 4/24/17 11:50 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:
Should anyone be interested, I did some more work on the Cajon,
which is now temporarily finished.
Cajons come in at least two major varieties: with snare and
without. The "snare" variety has either snare-drum snares or
some guitar strings stretched across the back of the striking
surface to add a "snare-drum'-like quality to the higher-pitched
sound you get by striking near the edge.
I made my Cajon with a set of snares that you can turn on or off.
They were mounted on a rod that can be turned so as to have the
snares contact the striking surface or not.
https://flic.kr/p/SSaL2y
(photo is shown with the striking surface - a piece of 1/8"
plywood - removed)
I got the idea for the switchable snare from a Woodworking for
Mere Mortals video and used his placement of the rod. But there
was a problem. The angle of the snares to the striking surface
was too great, the snares only touched near their tips and
didn't produce much sound.
I took a look at a couple of commercially-made cajons and saw
that the snares - like on a snare drum - were essentially laying
lightly on the back of the striking surface.
I didn't want to move the rod at this stage; I'd have had to
fill in the holes that hold it in place. Instead, I made a couple
of "brackets" that attach to the rod and hold a narrow piece of
1/2" ply that in turn holds the snares.
https://flic.kr/p/TWZpCB https://flic.kr/p/TyBArq
This now works pretty well. The snares, when "engaged" are nearly
parallel to the striking surface, and they produce the desired
sound. In addition, the sound can be adjusted a little bit my
rotating the knob to vary the "pressure" on the snares. Here's a
poor photo inside the cajon:
https://flic.kr/p/U9xV56
In the "disengaged" position the snares "jingle" softly from the
vibration of the box. I intend to install a piece of foam
weatherstripping for the snares to rest against when they are
not in use. That will probably wait until I decide on another
experiment or two that I might try to alter the sound.
The foam sounds like a good idea. I was thinking you could tape
the strands together down a couple-few inches from the tips, just
enough to wear the business end of the wires would contact the
batter section of the cajon. The tape would keep them from
jingling but still allow them to make a "snare" sound on the box.
I suspect the jingling is from the separate wires percussing
against one another.
That is exactly what is happening. The foam should be an easy fix,
attached to the underside of the cajon top.
BTW, if the snares don't work out, consider some sort of exterior
pocket or something that would hold an existing shaker. Based on
more the past 17 years of playing acoustic shows with
singer/songwriters, I find certain shakers, rectangular, or pouch
shakers filled with BB's or seeds, etc., sound much more like a
snare drum than snare wires on anything other than the resonant
head of a snare drum. :-)
Interesting. I actually have a pair of the LP "Finger Shots".
Using an exterior shaker also give you the opportunity to
customize/change the sound by simply attaching a different shaker.
Back in the djembe fad of the noughties (2000s), I kept a velcro
pad glued to the head of my djembe and spots of velcro stuck on
just about every shaker device I owned. This allowed for a bunch
of variation in sounds.
I'm not that up on what may be popular at any given time, but I have
always loved percussion, the more different sounds the better. And I
have a near-compulsion to tap on things in rhythm, finding the
"sweet spot" of every household item that has any resonance at all.
Now that I finally have a home recording setup, I can preserve some
ot that banging and tapping for posterity.
Thanks for the tips.
The best "snare sound" shaker I ever used was a Remo Pocket Shaker--
flat plastic pouch filled with some sort of small BB's. What I loved
about it (beyond its sound) was that it would sit flat on anything and
could be struck with hands or any of the various other sticks/mallets I
used.
It was the one that gave a perfect snare sound on the djembe. I had one
sound guy looking all puzzled, walking around my kit trying to figure
out where the snare was.
When I set it on the head just right, its buzz would sustain a bit. I
dubbed that sound my "Honda Civic With a Subwoofer" because it sounded
like a license plate buzzing on one of those little rice burners the
kids put huge sound systems in. :-)
--
-MIKE-
"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com
---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply