Hey Everyone! So, I have been looking everywhere for a pedalboard for a decent price and I came across a few forums that mentioned using shelving from IKEA, but none of them looked the way that I really wanted. So I decided to go to IKEA to see what they had. I found some shelves there called GORM shelving. They looked like they might work well so I decided to pick up a pack (they come in packs of 2). There are 2 different sizes, so depending on how big you need it you may need to get the bigger one. I got the one that was around 30" x 12" which seemed big enough for me.

This is what my pedalboard looks like so far, I still have 3 more pedals to add (Big Muff, Tremolo and Octave Shifter). I love how it turned out and highly recommend building one!

Here's more info on the GORM Shelving:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10213713/#/10213713

What else you'll need:

Velcro Roll (will cost around $20 online)

Spray Paint (if you want to paint it, I got a cheap can of white from HomeDepot for $1)

Step 1: IKEA Gorm Shelves

Alright, so when you go and get the shelves, take a second and look them over, since they are not in a box a lot of them get scratches on them. When you get home take a look at the shelves and decide which one is in better shape (this will be your pedalboard so take a while and decide!). After you decide, take the other one apart carefully!!! It takes a little time but you can get all the board off without chipping or damaging them. I went to fast and took a chunk out of one of the boards, luckily I only needed 1!

Step 2: Putting It All Together

Alright, so this next step all depends on whether you like your pedal board to be flat or at an angle. If you like yours flat go ahead and skip this step.

I had to go back and take pictures, that is why it's white (the finished look). I'll talk about painting it in the next step.

So, now that you have your GORM shelves decide which one you like better (this will be your pedalboard so take a while to check them out). Once you decide which one you like better take the other one apart. Be patient and take your time so you don't chip the wood. Alright, so now you need to take one of the board and measure how much you need to cut of the ends to make it fit perfectly between to the side boards. I believe its only about an inch or so on each side, pretty simple stuff. After you get it cut, decide how you want to attach it. I used a few small L brackets from home depot (I believe they were only $3 for a 4 pack). But you could use screws through the top, just make sure they are really thin because the wood splits pretty easily (that happened to me, that's why I switched to L brackets). Lastly, this isn't really necessary I'm just a little OCD and I knew that the lips that stick out of the side pieces would bug me, so I cut them off so that the board is a perfect rectangle, you don't have to, but I think it helps it look a lot better.

Step 3: Paint Time!

Alright, so now your pedal board is complete!!! Now it is up to you if you want to paint it, I didn't like the way the wood looked so I decided to paint mine, but of course it's up to you!

If you decided you want to paint it I would either sand the board a little bit or use some primer because I think the wood might have been treated (I had to use a whole can of spray paint to get it to stick). This is a pretty easy piece to paint, just spray one side and then flip it over and spray the other, not much to you. I would recommend letting the paint dry 24 hours before moving on just to make sure that it sets all the way. You could even spray a clear lacquer over it if you really want to help protect it, but I don't think it is really necessary.

(Sorry I don't have a picture of when it was painted before the velcro, but you get the idea from my other pics!

Step 4: Layout Your Pedals

I recommend that you decide on your pedal layout before you lay down velcro since the pedals will stick and make it a pain to shift them around. Here are a few sites that I have found helpful in figuring out how to lay out your pedals:

http://lespaulplayerdoctor.wordpress.com/pedal-board-setup-guitar-effects-basics-101/

http://tightmixblog.com/how-to-order-your-guitar-pedals-for-killer-tone/

http://guitarpedalboard.tumblr.com/post/34810459/order-order

http://pedalboardplanner.com

Step 5: Velcro!

This step is also completely up to you. Some people don't like putting velcro on there pedals, in that case I would recommend possibly getting some type of fabric to glue to the wood to help refrain the pedals from slipping.

If you decide to use velcro I recommend getting a 2" by 15' roll (available at Home Depot for $27 but you can get it much cheaper online). I use the scratchy side on the pedalboard mainly because I think it looks better but you can decide for yourself what you like. The easiest way to measure the strips you are going to cut for the pedalboard is to take one of the extra boards you have from disassembling the other shelf and use it to measure the strips, this will give you very even and accurate strips. When you lay the velcro down you can either put some light pencil dashes to help keep you in the center of the boards or just eyeball, just make sure you go slow because once it sticks it is a pain to get off and will probably take your paint with it.

As you can see I took my time and made sure it was centered, which I think helps add to the overall look of it!

Step 6: Finishing Touches!

Alright, so now the only thing you have left to do is apply velcro to your pedals, lay them all out and wire them together! I would recommend taking your time and making the chords nice and neat, this can help in the future when you decided to move a few pedals around. I also added some small sliding feet and handles to the sides to make it easier to pick up and move around (they were around $1 each at Home Depot).

So there you have it! A pedalboard for under $40 that looks good and serves its purpose well! The best part is, you did it yourself!

I plan on building a travel case for mine and I will post it as soon as I can, so check back once in a while!

Thanks for reading, let me know if you have any questions!!!