My Do-It-Yourself IKEA Pedalboard Build Thread

[Armchair Bronco]

Well, after several weeks of hard work, I've finally finished my first pedalboard and I thought it was time to start a build thread to show what I've been up to in my spare time. I decided to base my first DIY pedalboard on the well-known IKEA GORM design (who comes up with these names?). So I headed out to the local IKEA in Renton, WA and paid $4.00 for a GORM shelf and another $4.00 for two side boards. The dimensions of this thing are just slightly larger than a PedalTrain Jr.

Here's the initial layout I had in mind. I used some paper cutouts for pedals I hadn't bought yet.

[Armchair Bronco]

A friend of mine at work used his table saw to cut the side boards to size.

[Armchair Bronco]

I marked the location for some screw holes so I could use the original iron bolts to hold this thing together.

[Armchair Bronco]

I decided to go with a bright orange spray paint finish for this pedalboard to match it up with my Orange Tiny Terror and my orange-Tolex covered Avatar 1x12 cab. It's an acquired taste, but I like it. I pre-sprayed the areas where the iron bolts would go (along with 4 thick washers) so I could install these pieces when I glued everything together, and then mask off the black bolts when it was time to start painting.

[Armchair Bronco]

On one of the rare sunny weekend days in Seattle, I managed to spray the top and back of the board before the sky turned black. The semi-circular cutouts you see are for the thin but quarter-shaped round 1/4" connectors I decided to use for cabling. I made three cutouts, with the one at the top extra deep because of the narrower gap at the top of the board

[Armchair Bronco]

You can see the masked-off bolts in this photo.

[Armchair Bronco]

Here's my first test fitting after applying the paint. It looks good (and by now, I'm only waiting on my KORG Pitchblack as the BOSS FS-5U has arrived).

[Armchair Bronco]

Now it started raining and I was unable to finish painting the underside for nearly a week. This left me with a lot of time on my hands. After playing with the pedals on the board, it looked like the bottom board was flexing a little so I decided to add a stabilizing board to the center of the pedalboard. Here I'm attaching the fitted stabilizer to the underside of the board with some Gorilla glue and some giant bolts and a jar of jelly for some weight.

Adding this stabilizer introduced a major design flaw (Design Flaw #1) into my board. Can you see what the problem is? If not, you'll find out later.

[Armchair Bronco]

Finally! The sun peaked out long enough one morning (a Tuesday or Wednesday, I think) for me to quickly do the underside. I needed a 30 minute window, and Mother Nature gave me 35 minutes before the rain started up again.

[Armchair Bronco]

Later that night, I decided to get started putting Velcro on all my pedals. Here I am applying the plasticky/hook side to the bottom of my pedals. But then...I started thinking: "Hummm, should I be using the hook side or the soft/fuzzy side for the pedals?" I started a thread on HCEF and was told that the hook side is the conventional side. But then some folks said that with the soft side, I'd be able to take my pedals off and use them on tables or floors without scratching things up. Also, all my BOSS pedals had really bumpy bottoms and the soft Velcro side seemed like it would fit better.

So, reluctantly I ripped off all the hook side Velcro from my pedals (Design Flaw #2) and started over.

[Armchair Bronco]

After that, I put the hook side Velcro on to the board. Even though this is the unconventional way to do it, I was happy that I decided to do things the way I did. Cutting the Velcro was really easy on my rubber cutting board using a metal ruler with both inches and centimeters. I also bought a box of 100 single-edge razors for less than $7.00 and I made sure to use new blades frequently.

[Armchair Bronco]

After that, it was time for another test fitting. Now at least my pedals can defy gravity if I turn the board upside down!

[Armchair Bronco]

So: back to Design Flaw #1. Remember those cutouts I made early on? I did this because of the thin but wide format of the connectors I decided to use.

Here are some close-ups of me showing how to insert a connector through the cutouts.

[Armchair Bronco]

The flaw was that with the stabilizing board running down the center of the board, I wouldn't be able to get my speaker cables over to the right side of the board! Doohh! What an idiot! So, I had to cut out some squares from the Velcro on the right side, break out my Dremel tool again, and make new cutouts. Then I had to do some touch up repainting and cut out 3 Velcro patches. This set me back a day.

[Armchair Bronco]

Next it was time to break out the soldering iron and start making cables. I practiced using a scrap piece of 12" cabling; after 45 minutes I figured out the right way to solder the cabling to the thin connectors. I also had to use my hand drill to slightly enlarge the hole for the center cable. Each cable was cut to minimal length and the connectors were attached with the cables making a natural twist relative to the pedals they would be attached to.

[Armchair Bronco]

After making the cables, it was time to install some rubber feet. I looked high and low for some black rubber feet, but the only ones I could find that were rugged and tall enough were white (and they hung out over the edge a centimeter on each side). Oh well, function over form in this case.

[Armchair Bronco]

Then, it was time to attach a power strip. I used a combination of Velcro and some plastic tie downs. These fit nicely through the holes on the end piece of wood. I used a 1 Spot 9-volt adapter for every pedal except for my Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man which requires a 24-volt adapter. To make that adapter fit, I had to drive out to Frys in Renton, WA and buy a $3.49 Power Strip Liberator. Finally, I attached the EXH adapter with Velcro and a tie down of its own.

Then I spent some time carefully folding and tucking all of the loose wires and I secured everything with some black electrical tape.

[Armchair Bronco]

Yeah! I'm done. Here's a shot of my completed pedalboard in its new home -- in my guitar practice corner just in front of the rosewood liquor cabinet that sits between my SG Classic and my rack of guitars and my Avatar 1x12 and Tiny Terror. I also spared no expense on cabling and made new thicker cables for my guitars and for connecting the pedalboard to the amp. (I was amazed how much better they sounded compared to the Monster cables I was using previously.)

[Armchair Bronco]

And here's an action shot of me doing my thang with my right foot while playing my Fender Jaguar Classic Player Special HH in the foreground!

This was a great project that took much longer than it needed to, and on which I spent more than I should have (although I still came in much lower than the $100 cost of a PedalTrain Jr. plus $170 for a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power +). I figure I spent under $100. But I also kept myself out of trouble for a few weeks.

Next up: I'm planning to build a couple of clone pedals from "General Guitar Gadgets". I'll start things off with a ProCo RAT clone! I figure there's room for at least 3 new pedals on my board!

[laundromatt]

great write-up. i've got a pedaltrain myself (a birthday gift), but i'm sure it'll be helpful to someone else out there.

looking forward to your clone build. i saw the other thread where you were deciding between GGG and BYOC. i'm interested in seeing how things turn out for you.

[Armchair Bronco]

Originally Posted by laundromatt

great write-up. i've got a pedaltrain myself (a birthday gift), but i'm sure it'll be helpful to someone else out there.

looking forward to your clone build. i saw the other thread where you were deciding between GGG and BYOC. i'm interested in seeing how things turn out for you.

Yeah, I don't have a choice about building it now. Someone at work offered to sell me his vintage 80's ProCo RAT. I asked if I could borrow it for a couple of days first, and I left $70 in earnest money. Then, like a complete idiot, I sent email to the guy telling him how great the pedal was and how I'd like to go ahead and buy it from him.

He responded by saying he was now having second thoughts and that he wanted to try the pedal out again himself after 20 years!

I'm such an idiot!!! Should have just kept my mouth shut. Anyway, the GGG pedal will be perfect because it's a 100% copy of the circuit used in the vintage ProCo RAT from the 1980's, and someone on this site offered to give me the LM308N chip I need to make this a perfect clone.

I just wish that my soldering skills were better...but at least I got in some more practice with this project.

[gitarzan]

He responded by saying he was now having second thoughts and that he wanted to try the pedal out again himself after 20 years!

What a jerk.

[dB]

EXCELLENT thread; thanks for sharing.


dB

[Armchair Bronco]

Originally Posted by gitarzan

What a jerk.

Not really. We'd never agreed to consumate the deal. But that was because I asked for some extra time to try it out.

If it were me, and I was thinking about giving up a pedal that I'd purchased back in the early 1980's, I'd think twice about it, too. The thing is: it's so hard to guess the value of vintage pedals. I asked him to name a price that he thought was "fair". Maybe I should have suggested something right from the start and just bought the pedal outright.

There's still hope he'll give it up since he's a bass player now and the ProCo RAT is really more of a guitar pedal as basses tend to lose some low end with it. He'll let me know this week what's up. But I'm expecting the worst.

[Armchair Bronco]

By the way, for folks who haven't been to IKEA before, here are links to the 2 parts I used:

GORM Shelf


The shelf also includes 4 iron-looking bolts.

GORM Height Extension Post

[umasstele]

Armchair Bronco: thank you very much! I have this week off for spring break and am planning on building a pedal board. I am seriously considering using your design....(assuming you dont mind of course!)

[Yoni]

I used an ikea cutting board when I made mine. I love it.

[tazzboy]

Looks good. I don't have Ikea store here in Eugene, Or. So I will have to stick to Home Depot or Lowe's Home Improvement.

[Armchair Bronco]

Originally Posted by umasstele

Armchair Bronco: thank you very much! I have this week off for spring break and am planning on building a pedal board. I am seriously considering using your design....(assuming you dont mind of course!)

Go for it! My only contribution to the Gorm design was a giant can of orange spray paint offset by some black velcro! I can't take credit for anything else.

Originally Posted by tazzboy

Looks good. I don't have Ikea store here in Eugene, Or. So I will have to stick to Home Depot or Lowe's Home Improvement.

There's no real magic to the IKEA Gorm design. In fact, if I had a table saw (which I don't) I'd just cut up some pine pieces according to my own specs using the Gorm for inspiration. The shelf is just 3 pine slabs nailed to some "L" shaped rails. If you can cut the rails from a square piece of pine, you're golden.

If I did have the appropriate tools, then I'd think about making another pedalboard using a really nice hardwood, like some figured walnut or something but still based on the basic Gorm layout. But instead of using Velcro, I'd use some miniature rare earth magnets to attach the pedals to the board. I'd make some kind of thin wooden tray to hold each pedal and I'd secure the pedal to the tray with Velcro, but this would not be visible. Then, I'd put rare earth magnets on the bottom of the tray. These would attach to the top of the pedalboard.

But none of this is possible without a decent table saw and a dedicated spot in my garage...

[harvdog]

I loved your design idea so I made my own. Shortened the board a bit and used a different color. Thanks for the great idea.

Here is my IKEA pedal board:


Here is the underside which could use a bit more work:


Here is the board with my Gretsch:

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Yup, your work inspired me as well.

[Armchair Bronco]

^^ Nice job, guys! I like 'em both!

Just got back from vacation or I would have responded earlier. I'm glad you were each able to take a simple design and put your own spin on it. Both of the boards look like they belong in their respective homes.

Plus, you guys probably saved enough money to make a major down payment on a new pedal!

The Legendary IKEA Gorm Pedalboard FTW!

[castpolymer]

I just finished my pedal board (which was heavily influenced by your design ). I will post pictures in a few days once I receive the last pedal I ordered. Thanks for posting this project, its simplicity is genius.

[11 Gauge]

Fantastic work, A.B.!

You know you've done something really good when you have at least two other folks actually implementing your idea!

I have 3 speparate (homebuilt) pedalboards which are all very spartan in appearance and function, and need to be overhauled. There's an IKEA on the way home from my wife's job, so I think it's time to order some 1Spots and 3 of those Gorms.

Thanks for the wonderful idea and well illustrated write-up!

[FirstBassman]

Great job A/B! Congrats.

Originally Posted by Armchair Bronco

Now it started raining and I was unable to finish painting the underside for nearly a week.

It was raining? In Seattle!? I'm shocked!

[Unadan]

How many other guitar gear related boards was this posted to? Seems like I've seen this before elsewhere.

[IggyT]

Hi ArmchairBronco,
this is brilliant! I picked up the IKEA parts yesterday and will get started soon. this is way better than velcro on the carpet in my family room!
iggy

[edd677]

I had some serious doubts at first but that thing turned out awesome, great work. May have to build my own, if I ever get into pedals, or electric guitar for that matter.

[Unadan]

It looks very nice but I'll take a Pedal Train Jr. over this any day.

[markxander]

LOVE this design
I just bought my Gorm shelf this morning, going to start painting tonight
Hopefully pics in the next few days

People's personalities are really coming out in some of the design choices