Over the last few days I’ve deconstructed a wooden shelf from Ikea’s GORM line of storage units, and rebuilt it into a Pedaltrain-like home made pedal board. Here’s the result of about three hours total work:

The GORM shelves come from the factory just begging to be made into a board. There are several size options for the shelves, however only two are really suited for pedal boards. I have chosen the wider of the two shorter shelves, which is close to the size of a Pedaltrain 2. The other, smaller size is almost a near match for a Pedaltrain Mini.

While I was comparing the sizes of the shelves in Ikea, I noticed that the GORM shelving system, because it was modular, was also sold as individual height extenders. These height extenders are essentially a 2×4 with holes drilled in specific increments. When I saw that two long planks were only $3, I snagged them and decided to use one as the back of the pedal board; the pre-drilled holes are perfect for zip-typing power supplies and cords underneath. The planks were also close in width to what I wanted the rear of my board to be in height.

Alright, now that we’re done breaking down your purchases from Ikea, it’s time to start building the actual board…

Ikea GORM DIY Pedal Board – Supplies

• GORM shelf
• GORM height extender plank
• Two cans economy spraypaint
• Industrial-strength Velcro*
• Zip-ties
• Wood screws
• Coarse & fine sandpaper
• L-brackets
• Wood putty
• Handsaw

*Although only one box of Velcro is pictured, you’ll need two to cover the entire length of the larger GORM board.

Now that I’ve got everything I need, I begin by tearing apart the shelf.

This is what the shelf looks like when it’s broken down into its individual pieces. Be careful when prying off the cross-boards, this wood is $5 for a reason. We need to take the shelf apart so that we can widen the gaps between the boards. Stock, there is not enough space between them through which to thread patch cables. Plus it will just look nicer when the wood is squared to the edges. Notice I have also cut the plank down to size. It should be the width of the entire shelf, including the side-supports.

Because I’m a perfectionist, I wanted to sink the wood screws used for reattaching the boards and putty over them for a nice, smooth finish.

I planned for this by drilling shallow 1/4″ holes in the top-side of each board. You can see the screws are sunk below the board in the picture above. I attached only the bottom board for now, and began painting the side-supports so that when I screw down the other cross boards, the wood showing through will already be black:

PART 2 ➔