Effects Pedal Board Box Tutorial! Guitar / Bass DIY

Let's build two large deluxe pedalboards combined in a road box!

At some point every guitarist needs to realize that s/he has an effects pedal hoarding syndrom. In this tutorial you will not find a way to overcome this issue, but something better: A way to flee from reality and treat the symptoms by building a huge pedalboard-box, with a lot of room for all your precious pedals!

The two boards are 110 cm long each, so in total you get a 220 cm pedalboard!

This written tutorial is accompanied by a video-tutorial featuring elephants, storm loss and sticky Poetry!

To make the pedalboax you will need the following Tools:

• Screwdriver
• Pliers
• Utility Knife
• Clamps
• Soldering Iron
• Sandpaper
• Drill + 2mm & 22mm Drillbits
• Vice
• Angle Grinder
• Wood Glue
• Velcro Tape
• Paint + Paintbrush
• optionally a 3d Printer (for the deluxe version)

The following Material is required to make the pedalboax:

Wooden Boards:

• (2x) Bottoms: 110 * 22 * 1 cm
• (2x) Backs: 110 * 15 * 1 cm
• (4x) Sides: 21* 7 * 1 cm

Parts:

• (4x) Cable Jacks (Mono)
• (2x) Metal-plates + 16 small screws (not longer than10mm)
• (2x) Patch Cables
• (4x) Latches + 16 small screws (not longer than10mm)
• Trunk-Carpet: 108 *42 cm

If you plan to attach the optional dustcaps you will need 12 more small screws

• Drill a ø22mm-hole in the lower left corners of all four small wooden boards
• There should be about 1 cm of wood left to the left and lower edges, so the center of the hole is about 2 cm away from the edges

• Mark the centerline of the metal plates and cut them with the angle grinder
• If you cannot find similar metal plates at the hardware store, just make something similar from sheet metal

For all 4 small boards:

• Use the metal plates as a template to mark where holes for small screws shall be drilled in the wood
• Test fit the metal plates and cable jacks

• Glue and clamp the boards together as seen in the picture. The clamps should stay on the board for at least half an hour per pedalboard
• Check the pictures carefully to avoid glueing them together in the wrong way. Keep in mind that it needs to be possible to form a closed box from the two boards in the end
• Before you proceed with the next step (sanding) the glue should dry for 24 hours

• Sand the pedalboards to prepare them for painting

• Apply paint to the boards. At least two layers are recommended
• On the inside, the bottom does not need to be (but can be) painted, because it will be covered with carpet (see next step)

• Attach the carpet with a staple gun: First the small sides and the the longer ones. A wooden board can be used as a guide for the staple gun and for cutting the carpet in the end
• The carpet also needs to be stapled across the whole surface when the sides are fixed. The stretchier it is, the more staples you will need to use
• In the end you can paint the blank staples black with a marker to make them appear less prominent

• Cut the patch cables in half and solder them to the cable jacks
• The outer (ground) wire goes to the soldering latch that touches the shaft of the plug that will later be plugged into the jack. the inner (signal) wire connects to the tip of the plug that will later be plugged into the jack

• Screw the metal plates to the boards and the screw jacks into the metal plates

If you want to keep the corners free from dust, you can print some dustcaps

• Download the files from grabcad.com: https://grabcad.com/library/pedalboax-dustcaps-1
  
• Print two left and two right corner dustcaps
• Remove the support structures (if any)
• Use the dustcaps as templates to mark where small screw-holes need to be drilled
• Drill the holes and screw the caps to the board (12 screws required)

Put one pedalboard on top of the other, so that they form a box

On both sides:

• Mark where the latches shall be mounted
• Drill small holes and screw the latches to the box

• Put velcro tape under your effects place them on the board and connect them

Congratulations, you made it! Have fun using your pedalboax!