Review: Meinl Cajon Kit

I’m very happy to say that I’ve just finished building my own Cajon. I didn’t have room for a drum kit so I got a Cajon instead.

The Cajon is a percussion instrument that comes from Peru. It is a simple box with a hole in the back. The front of is made of slightly thinner wood than the other sides and inside there is a mettle grill that creates the sound of a snare drum when you hit the Cajon at a certain place.

Here is a video of a Peruvian musicians playing their Cajons. They are called Maestros del Cajón Peruano

I love music and I play all the time. I’ve got quite a few instruments including, nine guitars, a cello, four recorders, a keyboard, five African percussion bits and bobs, a ukulele, 3 mouth organs, and probably more lurking around in cupboards that I have forgotten about!

But this is the first instrument I have ever built myself. I felt a bit out of my depth because I know that it takes many years to learn to build musical instruments, so I wasn’t very confident that my Cajon would sound good when it was finished.

I decided to buy the Meinl kit from Amazon because it was a very good price. I thought that it wouldn’t be too much of a financial disaster if the whole thing went badly wrong.

But when I saw the clarity of the instructions and the quality of the pieces of wood I felt somewhat reassured. It wasn’t complicated at all. It arrived in a flat box in perfect condition.

Pichio performing a Cajon solo

It took about one weekend to complete because you have to let the wood glue dry completely before you add things to the basic box structure.

All you need is a screwdriver, sandpaper, a drill, a square rule, and various clamps are very handy too. Luckily I found all these in the shed! I used heavy books to help the wood stay put while the glue dried.

When the Cajon is completely built you can finish in whatever style you like. People decorate theirs with all sorts of designs. I decided to finish mine off using olive oil, which I rubbed on with cotton wool, because this makes the grain of the wood stand out and it looks beautiful.

Now that I have built and played it I can safely say that it was worth the effort because I feel very satisfied knowing that I have actually managed to build an instrument to such a high standard. It sounds amazing!

This is Daddi Bahmani playing a modern Cajon solo in an Electro House style. He also uses 2 crash cymbals as an addition to his kit just to add some variation and power to the beat. It’s a cool sound.

I would highly recommend this Meinl Cajon Kit and encourage you to buy one.

This experience has encouraged me to have a go at building my own electric guitar – so watch this space – give me a few weeks and I’ll tell you how I’m getting on!

Thanks for reading.

Here’s a link to the Meinl Cajon Kit I bought on Amazon.co.uk

And here’s the same kit from Amazon.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fabio is a musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He was born in London in 2000 and has been playing the guitar and cello since he was 5 years old. He likes many different styles of music. He has made 2 albums of original songs, and one of electronic music. He performs regularly around where he lives, and will soon have his own website to promote his music.