My daughter's saxophone

It's band season again (Yay!)and my younger daughter has reached the age of choosing an instrument. Much to my enjoyment, she has chosen saxophone. The search began and this old gal was found. It's a Buescher, from the late twenties if my research is correct. In any case, the price was right and the horn was in reasonable condition. Reasonable being a relative term. Let the restoration begin!

(for the record, these photos were taken by the seller, not me)

The Return

It's been painfully long since I updated. I actually haven't been making much but I now have spousal permission to start up again. I've been a taiko drummer for a while now, and I've been wanting to introduce some new drum types into my group's repertoire. I've started with some smaller drums called tsukeshime daiko more commonly referred to as just "shime" (pronounced something along the lines of "she-may") All the materials have been purchased and the ball is rolling (or is that drum rolling?) The body is a cylinder ten inches tall by ten in diameter made out of staves. The heads are stretched over metal rings fourteen inches in diameter and then held on with ropes which can be tightened to tune the pitch. I laid out the body to check my math, first. It'll look something like this.

 

Been A While, Thought I Should . . .

It's been a long time since I've posted anything. I've been working on a number of projects. Here is a portfolio/case I whipped up for my sketch book and drawing stuff to carry with me on the ferry. I was getting embarrassed by my zip-lock bags.
I did a quick sketch to put down what I had in mind:

And here's what I came up with for a finished product:

Made out of un-dyed 14oz cotton duck canvas with antique brass anorak snaps all around. It's not as white as it looks in the photos.

The Whole Set

Last post before the new year, I think. I figured I throw up an image (eew, gross!) of the whole set of them. The incomplete one on the right is a new over-sized design I'm trying. The person it's being made for is well over six feet tall, so I thought a taller cajon might be in order. And I wanted to see what it would sound like, too. Happy Holidays, everyone!

And He Reaches The Finish Line! (almost)

And here's the (almost) finished product. Red oak tappa on both front and back, rounded corners for more comfort when sitting on it and it sounds friggin' awesome. I've made a few others and this new one leaves them all behind sound wise. This is one of three I'm making as Christmas gifts for nieces and nephews, so I'm thrilled it plays so well. I'm going to wait until I get to Colorado to urethane them and put the little feet on the bottom because the humidity is just to high here right now and it would take forever to dry. (I know from experience)

I'll take some more photos of them in Colorado when they're finished and be sure to get them posted.

And It Starts To Look Like A Box . . .

It is a box drum after all, so the top is glued the top, the bottom is glued to the bottom and it starts to look like a box. Not rocket science. I also glued pieces of the quarter round into the slots on the upper corners. No more unsightly creases in your butt from the corners of the drum when you're playing. (For those of you unfamilar with cajones, you sit on top of the drum to play it.) Now it looks something like this.

I Digress Yet Again

For the whole both of you who follow my ramblings, sorry for the long pause between posts. Stupid holidays.

This digression is at least still in the realm of music. I've been unemployed more than employed over the last year, so I didn't really have big bucks for Christmas gifts. People always say how much they like hand made gifts, so I thought I'd see if it was true. I've been making cajones, which are Peruvian box drums, to give as gifts. I went down to my exotic wood dealer to see what they had that would fit the sort of drum I wanted to make.

I picked up some maple for the sides and top and some red oak and cherry for the tappa (the drumming surfaces). I also went to Home Depot and got some 3/4 in square stock for the frame and some red oak "quarter round" to execute an idea I had for the corners. I put quarter round in quotes because it's not actually quarter round, which is an even quarter circle in profile. This stuff I got is longer along half the curve making one side 3/4 and the other 1/2. I had chosen aspects of designs I had seen that I liked and thrown in some things I thought were original (until I saw that other people had been building cajons that way all along)

First, I cut the sound hole in one of the sides. Traditionally they're in the back, but I want two drumming surfaces, front and back, so I'll have to go with the side. My design has a recessed bottom and the top needs to be raised above the top of the sides to accommodate the corner trim, so I cut some of my frame stock and glued it flush with the top and brought it up a half inch from the bottom so I could recess the bottom.