D.I.Y. Walnut Pedalboard - Tutorial Video

[@briananderson1741]

Hey Merwin, great job on this board. Really enjoyed the video! Do you have a link for those spring loaded cabinet hinges?

[@MerwinMusic]

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005YVKNFC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[@waltmuller2444]

Wow! There are a lot of things about this video that make it great. Clear speech, good photography, materials list with sources and prices, and you clearly mention the “I forgot’s, etc. All around a great video, and I watch a lot of them on Saturday mornings, sipping my french pressed coffee. Delightful, Thank you, I have walnut in my attic and I might just build one of these.

[@wtmanley1]

You have more craftsmanship and attention to detail in this pedalboard than I've seen on many custom furniture or cabinets. Well done!

[@nsc217]

Looks like i’ll be buying a pedalboard

[@a1s1pinky]

nsc217 🤣

[@flyinpigmusic331]

Same here 😂

[@the-np4mr]

Idk man, not for those prices I won't lol

[@guitariste47]

I bought a bottom part aluminium base and will build a top

[@Earthwormjimm]

Yup fuck all this lol the tools alone will set me back an entire pedalboard with cables and pedals lmao

[@horrorview]

You make me feel as though I failed at life. I am humbled.

[@BrenQ99]

Dude! Everything about the design and build are just terrific. Very smart, very thoughtful. And, it came out beautifully! Really well done. If I had your skills, I’d make one for myself.

[@acidburn_]

I could never have the patience to build something like this but man I love watching videos of the process. So entertaining to watch it all come together. What a beautiful board.

[@wrspldr84]

I watched a lot of KZbin videos to get ideas for my board and yours is easily the most impressive. I built a board out of reclaimed burnt poplar from a construction site. It turned out great, but I'm jealous of your joints and recessed IEC. Awesome job man!

[@joshwairau183]

I am pretty impressed with the workmanship in this , the wood looks way more organic then steel i love it

[@erikmitchell6206]

I watched this video about a year ago. I've been wanting to build one since, and I finally did it! Thanks for the help

[@flyinpigmusic331]

How to build your own pedalboard: Step 1: become a master carpenter

[@am_i_sam_i_am]

love the attention to detail and small things like getting everything nice and flush.

[@dale8809]

I've built a few pedal boards and I like the hinge idea...very nice work.

[@owenfitzsimmons9743]

This is almost exactly like the one I'm making for our guitar player; walnut from Rockler, dovetails, and everything. Yours looked like it went much smoother than mine is going! I decided to cut a rabbet on the inside edge of the frame to support the top board that the pedals will sit on, but I think I should've just added inside supports like you did. Would've been much simpler and easier. I wish I had seen this video earlier. Great job!

[@wildebtw]

Great Job! I am planning my own build and until this video had not considered anything other than ply. That walnut looks really great.

[@sidfinley6087]

A great overview of how you built this pedalboard. Thanks!

[@bainmack]

this is awesome! i dont need another pedal board if i ever make another, im definitely referring to this. something very satisfying about watching you make this one. Also, I appreciate you admitting the wiring mistake-- not a lot of people do that. you have integrity. I subb'd just for that :)

[@zacwright2162]

Could you show how you wired the input and output Jack?

[@supernoobsmith5718]

My pedal board is a sheet of 3/8th inch plywood and I keep it inside an old CNB case. I keep the power supply plugged into an extension cord, and made double sided velcro strips to tidy it up. I like my pedals low to the ground and this is the best and easiest solution.

[@waltmuller2444]

Excellent video! So clear and detailed. I have some walnut and the tools to do this. My goal is to finish by end of this year. I especially liked the mention of the things you forgot. We all forget things. And also the price list at the end was helpful. Your style of speaking where you enunciate made every word clear. I have been using a Digitek Rp3 pedal for over 10years. I think it is time to move to the next level and do what you have done here. All the best!

[@FriendM2010]

Dude, I see a third job in your future… 🥳. Regular Job, Gigging Musician Job and Pro Pedal board maker for all of us on YT! Woot Woot! Nice work! 🤓🤟🏌️

[@JustAnotherPandaBear]

This is pretty advanced, but your pedalboard came out looking great, and it gave me a few ideas I didn't even consider. This is the type of quality I'd work towards. Well done!

[@davidcheek3125]

Using the Walnut and MDF, I'm curious how heavy it ended up being-Without pedals. Nice work!

[@alexandre8014]

this is very crazy professional thing brother congratulations

[@wmdbassplayer]

That's a beautiful board and makes me wish I had the tools to do it. A lot of work for someone without the table saws and router, but still a very informative video.

[@paulwilson-white6218]

I was not going to build my own pedal board,but I am now.I am thinking maple and walnut.Great build by the way

[@RestrictedAirspacePodcast]

Not to mention the arsenal of power tools and 007 carpentry knowledge. But other than that, great work young man job well exceeding its natural standards in this department. You can dove it...

[@keithclark486]

Back in the mid 80's there wasn't too many pedal boards to choose from and the ones they offered were expensive. I ended up taking a metal DeWalt sawzall case and converting it into a pedal board case. Kinda tacky looking back then but would probably go over good today. That's a nice looking pedal board you've built there.

[@spiffymongo4030]

Shit that's a great idea! Perfect size for my gain /boost stages! Thank you!

[@Madjoe828]

Awesome job! Very inspiring video! this was the first video I clicked on to get an idea for a board. Glad I goose it first

[@geoffreyhendrikx]

I made one Pedalboard with my dad and this yt video helped with building it

[@zbqb84a]

Well done!! I'm in the processes of planning mine. I'm looking at more of a PedalTrain style board with fixed top slats but want much tighter spacing and am also trying to design for reasonably low weight. The walnut looks great I'm torn between that and Padauk for my board. The dovetails look classy as always but I suck at them so am planning on a box joints that I may pin with a small dowel for fun. I'm toying with adding an illuminated rocker switch on the main power connection for one less thing to repeatedly plug in. Your recessed ports are a very nice touch.

[@MrSongwriter2]

Neat video. I know this is very late after the fact, but for anyone watching, for safety reasons you should have some form of insulation on the power jack where it joins the 4way power strip. It’s too easy to be fiddling inside the board and get electric shock at mains voltage. I used to build epos systems and we crimped on shielded spade connectors. So that there was no risk of electric shock from the power switch on the device if you were working on it plugged into the mains or forgot to remove the mains from the power supply, that way if you bridge connections with your fingers you were not touching bare metal I also recall something about not soldering main’s connection due to heat and solder low melting point. I worked on PCs for decades as a tech and always the mains was crimped on to power switches in the old AT power supply days that was from main system manufactures like IBM Dell, HP etc

[@surfrby8876]

That is beautiful,love the walnut and the step by step instructions great video, I've been thinking of building a board instead of buying one lately, and I also work at Rockler,but never take advantage of the shop downstairs or products, this might be a good time to do it!

[@MrMd5555]

Those commenting on needing to be a master carpenter to build this, I built a very similar pedal board (before seeing this video) minus the fancy walnut & without all the fancy tools, though I didn't do a dovetail joint because mine is constructed a bit different with a sort of 1x2 inner frame i built then i glued & brad nailed some poplar pieces to exterior but mine was practically free since it was mostly scrap wood I had left over except for the visible outer shell which was thin poplar but dimensions & functionality is nearly identical to this one & I am by no means a carpenter or anything like it but I do enjoy building things with my hands & have gotten quite handy with it over the years

[@rustyvanhoy23]

EXCELLENT JOB, my friend! You've definitely inspired me!

[@paulbull1993]

Hi, I'm planning to make my own after nearly completing an amp and guitar cabinet. I really enjoyed your video and the detail and finish looks great.

[@davehernandez4177]

Dang bro. LE GIT!!! I’m definitely going steal some of your ideas. Thank you.

[@luketanner7638]

Let me just tell you, that before I started building my own pedal boards, I would’ve thought this looked easy enough. Well folks, unless you have yourself a shop grade tablesaw and hand built/designed sleds, clamps, flush cut saws, wood feed tools and a big workspace, you’re going to have a hell of a time getting your pedalboard to look anything like this.

[@ruslanmansurov3790]

Thanks for the prices reveal. Looks great and functional. Way cheaper that to buy just box with almost nothing inside for 300$.

[@therealericjackdaniels]

Man you're really set up to do that kind of work. Must be nice :) I'd love making all kinds of stuff if I had the talent and tools like you got. Nice work

[@lenp00]

Luke, great build and video, however you didn't go into much detail for the remaining holes you drilled into the sides. Is there another video explaining that?

[@MerwinMusic]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZ2lpX6maJ12m9U I explain it in this video.

[@chensanmiguel2145]

Great vid! After seeing it I realized I need to find a local wood master to have one made. Don’t have the skills or equipment to make this happen myself.

[@davemau5e]

This is awesome! I wish I had handy hands to do something like this.. Looks great!

[@dermatze2309]

Wow, great built and cool video. For a gigging musician, some alarm bells do go off in terms of practicality: 1) How much does this thing weigh by itself? 2) Routing the audio signal through the bottom turns it into kind of a black box on stage. When something fails or gets stepped on (and something WILL get stepped on eventually), finding the bug may be a bit awkward in the heat of the moment. Just a few thoughts. Still an inspiring project!

[@MerwinMusic]

if something goes wrong then you just pop the top open. Also all the audio cables besides the input and output jacks stay above the board and all the power if routed below.

[@joeu4432]

Hey Merwin! Thanks for doing this, it’s exactly the blueprint I needed. Your board looks great, and I love walnut. I’ll change up my version of your board, and use maple with mitered corners and walnut keys. We’ll see how it looks and if I can wrap the grain on three sides. Thanks!

[@jacksonwrightmusic6805]

Beautiful! I am starting to get into woodworking through a class. Don't have these skills, let alone the power tools yet, but this is what I'll aspire to!

[@taratapa]

Beautiful job, and beautiful setup and video. It's good that you mention the cost of the materials. We can see it costs almost as much as buying one... And to establish the total cost you should take into account the machinery necessary to achieve this, particularly the heavy stuff... It's what bothers me most about these "DIY" - custom pedalboards (or else) videos : they usually do not mention that machines and hardware are a significant investment and not something everyone has lying around or even can get access to... (not even talking about the required workshop space). A truly DIY knowledge or achievement is supposed to be something that can be reproduced, learned, aquired by most people. Something that's thought in a way that reduces to a minimum the means necessary to get to it. And although your creations are really beautiful and refined (not denying the quality of what you do), i don't think it's really DIY in the sense that most people won't be able to achieve it or even try. It's rather like an "I Did it Myself" pedalboard. It would be interesting to do a lowtech build and show how it could be achieved with minimal equipment and recycled materials. It may not look that classy but it'd truly be in "DIY" spirit. :)

[@SuperPoolbuilder]

Very nice work. I’m just getting started and appreciate your perspectives! Thanks!

[@gooseabuse]

I bought my pedal board for a dollar at goodwill, I think it was originally for shoe shining or something but I threw some velcro on it and it looks pretty pro.

[@MerwinMusic]

Goodwill finds like that are the best!

[@princesslouiseianna]

Satisfied after searching a lot of diy pedalboard.

[@MerwinMusic]

Thank you!

[@radonyizsolt]

Hi! Great video! Can you maybe give a link to those Jack inputs?

[@theta_trader2767]

Great tutorial. Can you comment on what size screws you used? And I’m guessing you drilled pilot holes? Thanks

[@venndi8867]

With those machines my Grandma could also easy to make like this, but also nice work!

[@Tura750]

Great video! Is that possible with just a jigsaw?

[@aquadux]

very cool board. why 6 audio jacks?

[@rafaelbraga7687]

Watching from Brazil, great ideas.

[@danyvaldi5596]

Bro im from Colombia, i speak Spanish, but i didnt understed you at the minut 3:43 , what tipe of loop did you use there? could you send me the product website to buy it, please

[@robhaskell4043]

nice job all round - very articulate description and good video angles. Well done.

[@PaavoLammikko]

It's beautiful! What's the weight without any pedals or PSU?

[@niteshvlogs8865]

Hey i saw this video its great man loved it even i am trying make one but dont have the all the tools . How much would you charge for this kind of pedal board ??

[@supermanny73]

Great video! Question: What is the purpose of a power strip if you are installing a power brick? Couldn't you just do without one of them?

[@MerwinMusic]

You could if you had a big enough power supply. At the time mine was small and didn't have an 18v out so I used a separate wall wart.

[@elchacon6304]

Impressive indeed. Why the MDF? You should have used hardwood throughout to maintain the high quality build.

[@MerwinMusic]

Pablo Saldana I didn't want to go thicker than a 1/4" for the bottom panel to keep the weight down. I figured the MDF was more likely to stay flat and not bow in or out.

[@HomeStudioCorner]

Duuuuuuuuuuude. This is so cool.

[@syn2332]

Love this! Do you have a materials list anywhere?

[@Varone26]

I would love to build one of these, but I don't have the tools nor the right hands to make one.

[@Ibaneddie76]

YOU DON'T NEED ALL THOSE TOOLS, YES IT MAKES IT FASTER AND EASIER BUT YOU CAN DO THIS WITH SIMPLE HAND TOOLS AND A POWER DRILL/DRIVER IF YOU HAVE THE PATIENCE. YOU ARE LIMITED TO YOUR IMAGINATION.

[@michaelenochs5024]

A.S.V ^ he's right. You can do it with just hand tools. The hardest part is going to be planning the surface to get a true flat and straight board. You can still do it with a hand planer and can even make it just as good without power tools.

[@VinJapanGuitarShop]

My heart sank watching the taper jig section.

[@davidlopez1208]

Me

[@rmarriott2]

maybe look at this? kzbin.info/www/bejne/kGSxmImAfZypgbc

[@danielgrenier2417]

If you are as good a guitarist as you are a woodworker, you must be a really good guitarist!

[@giuseppegiovine1944]

Hi @MerwinMusic, very very good work! I like it! Can I ask you a link for that rounded adaptor for in/out guitar jack? thank you!!!!

[@tomhodgkinson7046]

I wish i had enough pedals to make a pedal board

[@capgaming69]

Tom Hodgkinson just build a normal size and look forward to getting more

[@vincentmalcorps7614]

Buy some of the new TC Electronics budget line pedals: they're awesome and cost +- 35€. There are other excellent budget pedals on the market..

[@boseifrit5480]

Try behringer. If you want great pedals for a low price, that's it brand. Only downside is they're made oh super hard plastic to cut down on price but it's tough so no problem there rly. I bought their wah and it was a bad batch but I got it exchanged and it worked wonderfully. Honestly they are almost as good as boss

[@Liu-Kang-Xi]

You only need 2 pedal for guitar music. 1 accelerator + 1 break = very good music zoom r16 fl studio

[@Cougar139tweak]

Awesome, curious if you get humm from the Pedals with the Powerboard inside the actual Pedalboard I went totally DC with JOYO 5 power supply.

[@MerwinMusic]

Sometimes with the distortion on but not always. Makes me think it has more to do with dirty power than the board.

[@LeviBulger]

Boards like these are relatively easy to make (albeit time consuming) and look great, but ultimately if you are a gigging musician,they just aren't very practical. They're heavy and tall in the front which can make things awkward when having to switch a few pedals on the fly. Theres a reason pedaltrains and all their clones still sell like hotcakes. They're just more practical on stage and easier to transport. Im actually starting to modify floating aluminum shelves now for custom size pedalboards for a few of my clients that request them. They work great so long as you don't use ridiculous amounts of pedals in a live rig.But in a studio or home,wooden multi panel boards do look nice and accomodate as many pedals as you ever could want with appropriate planning. And it doesn't hurt that the wood and components are cheap. Amazon is prob the best way to go for hardware and lightweight but solid wood is usually best to get from the scrap section of a local lumber supply, especially in bulk.

[@charlesrocks]

That is absolutely gorgeous. Your dove tails look good.

[@jas_bataille]

Nice! You went a bit "overboard" with the dovetail joints but the hinge idea is neat - although I hardly see how one can have proper access once all cable are routed through the negative rails style holes... as a pro tech I would not recommend a 20 bucks PSU and I don't know why you didn't just wired up a standard outlet for your power supply with a fuse but I get you're trying to keep it as budget-friendly as possible. Also I would always recommend using an actual Speakon connector for power, it is much more durable and most importantly, if you ever kick your pedalboard or whatever it will never disconnect by accident (everything can happen on a stage... I mean... e-ve-ry-thing can happen). Overall I'm still wondering why you didn't shown the routing of your audio jacks and why 6 audio jacks?? Normally you would have a DI at the end of the chain or else an interface but I never seen that many jacks on a board. Are those 3 inputs on one side and 3 outputs on the other?? I got that you're a woodworker but you should have put a little more focus on the audio routing here IMHO. Great work overall.

[@MerwinMusic]

I have a pedalboard video where I talk about all the jacks. Short answer is 3 inputs are electric guitar, acoustic, and mandolin. Acoustic and mandolin share the delays and go XLR out from my di pedal. Then 3 outputs are electric guitar and then stereo out from an iPhone for backing tracks and or loops, MIDI tracks from my midi guitar if I am using it. I also would rather just have extra jacks that I don't use then decide I want to use electric in stereo from a delay pedal or something and not have the jack to do it.

[@danchrisanthou6359]

Hey. Great video. How many jack sockets did you put on it? And what are you suing them for? I was going to make something similar with 3 sockets, 1x input and. A send+return...

[@MerwinMusic]

3x each side. it was input electric, acoustic, and mandolin. Then output electric and a stereo out for extra tracks and effects. Now it is electric input and a send-return for my acoustic board on the right side, and still the electric out and a stereo out for extra sounds. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZ2lpX6maJ12m9U

[@thiagomachado7241]

Hey Merwin. I'm finalizing my own pedal board project. Thanks for posting the tutorial and build videos, I took great hints and tips from what you did with yours, though I took a radically different route with the side connections. Right now I'm finishing the wood but I'm thinking ahead to the electrical setup. One thing that occurred to me: Didn't you have an issue with laying the PSU on the bottom of the board? I'm thinking that with the top of the board raising like that, either you disconnect everything before opening, or you'll pull all power supply cables to the pedals. I'm thinking once you finally figure out your cable management and setup sure, you're not likely opening it that often and it becomes less of an issue. However, until then and you're trying out different configurations etc, you're always facing that problem. Did you run into anything like that? I'm thinking maybe attaching the PSU to the underside of the top, and just having the power strip connected to the bottom of the board. What are your thoughts? Also, looks like you used a satin finish poly, is that correct?

[@MerwinMusic]

It is a semi-gloss poly but I actually thinned it down a little to basically make my own wipe on poly. I haven't had any problems with opening the top lid as long as there is enough slack in all the cables. you could probably just put the power supply under the top if you wanted to. I just like the lid and bottom approach so you don't have to zip tie anything down.

[@markkuklinski9969]

Wow Merwin, that looks great. I do have one question... Did you have to trim down the top to account for the thickness of the felt cover? Thanks, MarkSki

[@treadh2o612]

since you have a power strip underneath, what would the point be of having a power supply??

[@madmannolen]

you got me inspired, i did one but i put aluminum profiles all over the edges to cover my sloppiness xd

[@joaopaulooliveira3987]

hey can you tell me where the power plug you made on the board (at 6:00) is on?

[@einarabelc5]

Everything is easy when you have the right tools.

[@scottpankhurst9666]

no, it's not. tools just introduce a new problem - learning to use the tools.

[@greendale-alumni5908]

Hi I know this is pretty old but if you see this can you explain how you would add on a toggle switch and an indicator lamp? So when you turn on the switch the light goes on and off course power goes to the power strip. Thank you!!!

[@chasecwood59]

Hi! Great board! What jacks did you use?

[@Dyvineone]

Love this Board, do you have any designs for a longer wider board that can hold a Wah pedal ?

[@hearpalhere]

Looks great! Just curious why you also added a powerstrip in addition to the powerful supply - is it to connect pedals with proprietary power supplies? I'm in the early stages of planning out my own pedal board build and I like that you made your own input and output jacks. That makes it really nice and convenient and much more professional looking. I had previously thought of just plugging in and out of the first and last pedals :-)

[@MerwinMusic]

I wanted to be able to plug in just one IEC connector to power the whole board, so I have the power supply, then just a wall wart for the Jamman because it needs over 1A of current, so rather than get a huge power supply I just used a separate wall wart. Also the strip I got has 2 USB ports on it to power my phone and an Arduino pedal that is basically a Looptimus.

[@hearpalhere]

@@MerwinMusic Thanks for the reply. That is awesome and you saved a ton of money on your power supply! Seems like a really smart way to go and you have plenty of space for it underneath. I have a first generation Jamman and it's great but I'm almost certain that I'm going to sell it because I've got my eye on the Electro Harmonix Grand Canyon. It seems like a really great delay and it has a nice looper built in too. That also has a more modest power requirement (only needing 300mA if I remember correctly).

[@markmusic3364]

This is brilliant! Thank you for sharing!!

[@Sixxiron]

Beyond cool! Nice work

[@gabrielbueno18]

Hello, how are you? Could you pass the measurements in centimeters or millimeters? In my country we don't use inches, so it becomes difficult to convert to centimeters or millimeters. Thank you.

[@theguyver6397]

I don’t own a guitar but I wanna make one of these now. Or try to make one. Awesome stuff man.

[@cameronwhite9959]

not owning a guitar is something that can be changed.

[@theguyver6397]

Cameron White very true. A friend of mine hooked me up with a guitar. He said he saw it laying in a parking garage and kept an eye on it for weeks and since no one ever claimed it he took it. Then he passed it down to me. It’s in bad shape but I can practice with it.

[@panchomoskera1]

my friend...you are an artist!

[@alexoftheway8169]

That's a quality peice of work right there

[@hack-ta-guitare]

I almost practiced guitar ten times more than you while you were building your pedalboard...but I spent ten times more money in a pedaltrain that they like to sell us at the high price :). Nice piece of art man, great skills and great job !

[@MerwinMusic]

As long as I don't lose any fingers I am fine with that! haha

[@hack-ta-guitare]

Yeah I was scared for you each time you were dragging the wood toward the blade !

[@brandtjewell1459]

Do you have a link for the friction catches? Amazing work btw! Gonna try my hand at this.

[@MerwinMusic]

Something similar to this: a.co/9yi3aYw

[@daiketo]

Hi, I've been looking for the hinges and Im not able to find those ones specifically... could you give me an amazon link for those ones you used?... (Im following your guide to build my own, by the way. I loved your work)

[@daiketo]

Nevermind... I just found it in the comments... thank you!

[@Shredso]

Great job! Have you thought about a cover? I recently built a mock up, but quickly found it needs some protection with heavy gigging. I will be stealing some ideas from this if I can figure out a way to protect it.

[@MerwinMusic]

I just carry mine in a MONO pedalboard bag. It works perfect for me but I wouldn't call what I do heavy gigging, just loading it myself in my own trunk once a week.

[@johnmooney2163]

This is amazing!! Absolutely love it mate

[@tonygrissom9235]

man - i've tried and tried to hand route iec inlets and i am just horrible at it haha. Great job. Any tips for that?

[@christopherjamesblackwell]

Is there a link to build a woodshop first?

[@brunobragadini]

Beautiful Pedalboard

[@vitokompozito]

in what dimensions are these numbers? inches or a foot?

[@khaye3030]

That is such a nice build! Thank you for the videos!❤️

[@MerwinMusic]

No problem, thank you.

[@roy-batty]

How heavy is it? I imagine it packs quite a punch on your shoulders. Very nice work, btw!