Pedal Boards Part 1

Now first of all, you have to decide if you want to go the money saving route and build your own, or if you have the financial backing to buy one that has been made by some company. There is no right or wrong choice and both work great. I personally have gone all of these years with using my own home made pedal board up until Sunday when I talked myself into buying one due to the lack of space on my home made one. This brings me to my first point. Unless you never see yourself ever buying another pedal for the rest of your life, LEAVE EXTRA ROOM ON YOUR BOARD!!! Believe me, you’ll thank me later.

For those of you who have decided to build your own, it is very simple. Take all of your pedals and lay them on the floor and measure how much space you need. Then add a little extra space to that measurement for future purchases. After you have your measurements, go to your local hardware store and buy a piece of wood that size or larger so that you can cut it to the proper size. Also while you are there you’ll need to grab a package of Velcro, a can of primer, a handle that you can screw into the board, and your favorite color of spray paint to add your own personal flair. Now all you have to do is cut the board if necessary, prime and paint it, install the handle, and apply the Velcro to the board and the bottoms of your pedals preferably in two or three rows.

For those of you who decided to buy your board, there are some things you need to take into consideration as well. Once again, how much space do you need and then add some additional space to it. Then go onto musiciansfriend.com or whatever online music store you prefer and search around for what you can afford and will fit all your pedals plus one or two more. Just as a reference, Pedaltrain and SKB make great pedal board, but you can also find a good selection of pedal boards and pedal board cases on Ebay stores.

Either route you decide will work great for you. It is really all about personal preference and how much cash you have available at the time. Like I said, I, as well as many of my friends, have used homemade boards for a number of years now and they have served me well along with keeping my wallet full, but factory made boards are pretty sweet too.