I was privileged to visit the cajon workshop of JC Percussion in Bogota Colombia. After months of traveling it was a delight to smell proper sawdust and be around all the familiar tools of a well equipped workshop. Javier had three recently made cajons for me to look at and play. They were all beautifully made with great sound. I recorded one with my standard Zoom H4N on the tapa and my traveling bass mic, a Nady DM-80.
These are precisely made cajons with awesome sound. Javier is an engineer by trade and his cajons reflect it. Joints are tight and edges are perfect. The tapas are plywood covered with real veneer wood, each one is unique. This got me thinking about most commercially made factory cajons, mega factory tapa’s that look like wood are often printed, not real veneer at all. Javier’s are real wood.
There was a CNC machine off to the side and I asked about it, “You got the plans on the internet?” “No, I designed it myself.” Wow! He uses it to cut the sound holes and some of the snare mechanism pieces. A thoughtful touch is that the veneer on the knob of each cajon matches the tapa.
The snare mechanism is very effective. When it is off there is no sound from the snares on the recordings. But when it is on there’s plenty of snare.
These professional quality cajons are a fraction of the cost of imported name-brand cajons available in the big music shops in Bogota. They are a real deal. If you are a Colombian musician JC Percussion cajons are a completely profession cajon option that are built in Colombia. If you are headed back home after traveling in Colombia, these cajons are great instruments worth bring back as a memory of your travels.
Javier has several models as well as shakers and bongo cajons. He can be reached at https://www.facebook.com/jcpercussion or at http://www.jcpercussion.com
