· Step 7 · Patching, Powering & Personal Touches

Rigging up a pedal board can be an art form. The less clutter you have, the better.

I began with patching,

When it comes to patching, direct pedal-to-pedal connections are ideal, with cables crossing over each other as little as possible. Not only does this help to eliminate any noise, but it also just looks nicer. 3″ or 6″ instrument cables are available from almost any guitar shop, and using these will save space and allow tight patching between effects. They come in both straight-jack and L-jack styles, and both are useful depending on the circumstances.

A 3" instrument cable with L-shaped jacks

I built my riser with a gap in the middle because most smaller stomp boxes have their inputs and outputs on the side of the pedal. This way, the cables could snake down under the riser and remain unseen. I had to experiment a little with distance and the placement of pedals, but in the end I was glad I made my riser temporarily-permanent as it made tricky connections a lot easier to complete.

Then hooked up the power,

There are many, many options out there when it comes to powering a pedal board. A single supply can cost hundreds of dollars, and I’m sure they’re well worth it when you’re at that level of pedal boardin’, but for now I stuck with my own cheap-yet-versatile solution; the 1 Spot Combo Pack. The adapter takes up such a tiny amount of space, and it powers all my pedals, no sweat. I just ran the daisy-chained power cable along the space between the back of the riser and the case to reach the pedals. It tucked neatly away.

And initialed my artwork.

After all that time and effort putting together my own pedal board, I wanted small details to make it stand out. I picked up a couple aluminum mailbox letters while I was at Home Depot and put my initials on the front [fig 9]. It actually fits in pretty well with the look of the case.

fig 9

The only thing left to do was use it.

Playing the board

And that was that. It all went pretty smoothly, and that to me was the most surprising part of the whole process. Since a pedal board is such a simple concept, it only takes a little bit more effort to jazz it up and make something to show off. I’ll definitely be building more in the future as I get more pedals and change any out. But for now there’s room for a few more on this one.

Now go off and build your own- you know you want to. As for me, I’m off to tote this thing around town to a few gigs. I just like the way it looks both open and closed:

It's so ready for a night on the town.

I hope this helps you figure out your own build. There’s a host of available resources out there for a DIY-er, and even message boards filled with people ready to help you out. Just be savvy and you’ll be alright.