Angled View. Note the bolts sticking out pretty far. I ended up countersinking them later.
Just before I left for tour with Joyful Noise, I put together this awesome DIY pedalboard with shelving parts from IKEA. I got the idea & plan from Armchair Bronco over at the Harmony Central forums. His detailed step-by-step guide is excellent, so be sure to check it out!
The beauty of this board is that I made it in one afternoon (about a day and a half including stain dry time) for a grand total of $44, which breaks down as follows:
- Shelf (IKEA Gorm) – $3
- Shelf Extension (IKEA Gorm) – $2
- Wood stain (IKEA Behandla) – $5
- Velcro (Industrial strength, 2 inch by 15 feet, Home Depot) – $30*
- Rubber feet (Shepherd 1″ Heavy Duty Anti-skid pads, Home Depot) – $4
*You can probably save even more money on the Velcro. 15 feet is WAY too much, but I wanted the 2″ wide stuff & that was the only one they had. Checking out Velcro’s website, they offer it in smaller doses. (Hmm, I wonder how sticky Velcro’s website is…heh heh). O well, the stuff comes in handy & the Mrs. has already been using it.
So here’s my quick and dirty. Again, if you want the detailed stuff, check out Armchair Bronco’s brilliant post.
I went with the IKEA antique stain, which only required 2 coats and looks cool. That naked piece there is extra. Armchair Bronco cut it down and attached it as a front endboard, but I decided to skip that step. Yes, this is the lazy DIY’ers version. 
Parts for my DIY Pedalboard. The GORM Shelf and Extension Post (with hardware) from IKEA , Industrial Strength Velcro (15ft x 2in), Rubber Feet. Not pictured: IKEA Behandla Stain.
Here it is with velcro. I decided one two-inch strip per board was enough (the pedals have no problem sticking to it).
The finished board with velcro.
This pic shows the guts underneath. Nice and neat. One word of caution: you need a powerstrip with sockets that go the right way for your wall wart(s). Otherwise your wall warts won’t fit. If you have wall warts that go both ways, you can get an adapter which is mentioned in the Armchair Bronco thread. Another tip is to mount the power strip with Velcro, too (why not, since I had a boatload of it ). And yes, a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2 would fit nicely under there (someday).
Underside, showing the mounted power strip (I used velcro), and the One Spot for power.
This pic just shows the countersunk bolt and the fact that I drilled incorrectly the first time and flipped the board over (measure twice, drill once I know). Those other holes you see come pre-drilled.
Closeup to show the countersunk bolts.
Side view.
Having used this thing extensively since I bought it (on the road and all), I have to say I’m impressed with the sturdiness. I didn’t reinforce the middle like Armchair Bronco did, and I don’t need to. This thing is pretty solid. I did go back and wood glue the endboard when I countersunk the bolts, just because each side is only held on by one bolt and I didn’t want them to work free & become stripped over time.
Now what am I going to do about all that empty space there on that pedalboard? Hmm…time for another project?
Pedals mounted, and here’s the stain I used from IKEA.
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Nice lookin’ DIY board there. I personally dig the pedal train style.. elevated with access between each strip for routing cables underneath. Well done!
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Thanks man! Being able to hide the cables & power is a nice feature. Ya just can’t beat the price if you’re willing to put a little elbow grease into it.
This is a great idea. My only question is how heavy is it? It seems great for a studio/garage/practice space. I like how you can feed the cables through the slats.
If you wanted to angle the height of the pedals furthest from you, you could always add pedal risers. Cheers!
It is pretty light, I weighed it without pedals (but with power strip and onespot) and it is 5.2 pounds. It fits neatly in my gig bag (which was a prerequisite) for travel. There are bigger size shelves at IKEA for those who need more real estate.
just buy high quality power strips and do not use power strips that are not UL certified ..
That’s pretty cool. I might have to try that in the near future as I am needing a smaller pedalboard at times. The pre-cut wood a low price makes it pretty attractive.
It’s a great board. I have used it extensively since I built it and it holds up well. I’m up to 4 pedals now (added a generalguitargadgets.com its-8), and may be adding another one soon. The place to save $ is definitely in the velcro, if you can find cheaper (& less) velcro you’ll be saving some cash. I still have a bunch leftover, though I’ve used it for a variety of things since this build..the stuff does come in handy!
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