Wooden Pedalboard (for Beginners!)

Having recently dove headfirst into the wild world of effect loops, I decided I needed a pedalboard but not for the price of brands like Ruach and Groundswell. My joinery skills are not fantastic, but I thought I could pull off a nice enough looking pedalboard myself without too much fuss. I wanted a fairly simple box with a lid that pulls off for easier cable management/disassembly, and options for expansion in the future.

The scale and shape of this board is based off the Ruach 2.5 (3rd Gen) pedalboard, and is about 12" x 18". The face design is based off of Groundswell's custom boards, and I chose it purely because I liked the way it looked. It comfortably fits 8 1590B/Compact pedals. There's a hole in either side for in/out cables, and a handle-hole in the back to route power through. If you make this for yourself, I would consider adding another row of slots along the top and bottom long edge for better cable management.

I happened to have a good amount of barnboard and scrap lumber laying around to make this with oak and what I think is chestnut, but plywood and a 1" pine board would do just the same.

• 5/8" plywood/board
• 12" deep will support two rows of pedals, and you can choose whatever length suits your setup (mine is 18" long). Most pedals will take up just shy of 5" width when lined up side by side. Look into retail products for reasonable dimensions.
• I wouldn't go much thinner than 5/8", since the board is getting stomped on, and will only get weaker as you drill holes into it.
• 1" board, either 4" x 6' or 8" x 3'
• See attached diagram with possible cutting layouts. The actual piece I used was something like 6-3/4" by 3', but that was cutting it a bit close.
• 5/16" (or so) dowel, enough for 8
• I used two 2"-ish dowels at each corner.
• Small Nails (8)
• I used wire nails as well as glue to affix the lid supports to the frame, just to be safe.
• Wood Glue
• Yup.

Tools I used:

• Table Saw
• Jointer
• Definitely possible to do this without a jointer, but it makes everything fit together nicer and makes chamfering the edges a lot easier.
• Electric Drill
• With Forstner bits for making the large holes.
• Jigsaw
• For expanding the holes into slots.
• Chop Saw
• Shaping tools
• I don't have a router table for rounding over edges, so I do it by hand. The Stanley Surform tools are my favorite for this sort of work, and work much faster than a standard rasp. I didn't use any power sanding tools, but they would also be helpful.

Decide on the dimensions of the main board, and cut it to size. Doing this first allows us to physically check dimensions for the frame as you cut it out, and will keep the frame square as it gets doweled and clamped.

The long edges of this board should be cut at 7° from vertical, to match the final slope. However you cut this (on the table saw or on the jointer), be aware you'll also have to cut the long frame edges at this same angle.

Refer to the diagram in this step for any dimensions going forward.

The long edges of your frame should be the same length as your board, and the shorter edges the board depth + 2". The rectangular pieces are simple enough to cut out, and will need to be jointed at 7° from horizontal along their top edge. The shorter, angled pieces are simple enough with the right tools. If you're using something like a jigsaw to do the angled cut, don't cut all the way down to the line; get the rough shape, clamp the two identical pieces together face to face, and hand plane/sand the long angled edge down. It's more important that these two pieces have the same angle than it is that it's the right angle.

I forgot to drill the holes and handle into the frame until after I already glued mine together, but you'd be better off doing that now.

You may be tempted to leave a little wiggle room for the board to come out of the frame, but having it fit snugly is important for clamping; If it's too tight, it's much easier to trim a little off the board later.

Once you've got the pieces all cut (including the 7° angle), assemble the frame upside-down, with the angled faces of the frame facing down and the board within the frame. Putting the board inside the frame keeps it from racking out of square as you clamp it.

I always keep little scrap bits of wood around to place under the clamp as protection from marring.

Once the frame is clamped into place, carefully drill through the shorter frame pieces into the ends of the long ones. You can see in the close-ups that I should have been a little more careful and possibly avoided those blowouts, but learn from my mistakes.

I also took the time while the glue was drying to measure up and cut out the board supports, as seen in the 2nd picture. Instead of running flush with the bottom edge (the edge on top here, since we're clamping it upside-down), I made mine a little short in case I wanted to enclose the whole thing later on by adding a bottom board. These supports get the same 7° angle at the top, which I did on the chop saw.

I used a variety of hand tools at this step to fillet the edges and smooth the entire frame out. I had cut the long frame piece in the back at a slightly wrong angle, but through the magic of Just Keep Sanding!™ it all worked out in the end.

I used a drill press rather than a hand drill for these holes, but only because drilling is tiring. The exact pattern you use is up to you and your layout, but I would recommend 1" as a minimum diameter. I used a jigsaw to cut the slots as straight as I could, and cleaned them up with a file.

The best part! I knew I was going to be doing multiple coats, so I made sure the frame got one before the support pieces were installed.

Attach your lid supports. If you're using glue & nails, make sure to pre-drill the small pieces. I made sure they were aligned flush by putting them in with the frame face down.

And that's it! Add another coat of stain/sealant and then slap some pedals on there!