WIP

Ever since I got my Musicom EFX I've known I needed to build as new pedal board to fit it. I was going to wait for the TIM pedal to come so I could fit everything together, but my old pedal board started acting up. I accidentally used some low heat solder that came with one of my solder guns. Apparently that solder melts at 118°F so it melted in my trunk of my car on a hot summer day. I touched up the solder but ever since then things have been bonky. One night at practice (thankfully not a gig) my board just stopped making noise or would stutter like a hard term was on. I checked the cables and it still didn't work. Finally I gave the pedal board a solid kick and suddenly it worked again. That was the end of the line. Gear shouldn't need to be kicked to work correctly. So that night I ripped the board apart and threw away the cables. Since then I've been bringing a grocery bag full of the pedals I need to each gig. That little mishap sped up my decision to build a new board, so last week I started working on it.

I got a great deal on a road case that was accidentally made the wrong size. At a minimum I needed 13"x24.5" and this case has internal dimensions of 14x28. Close enough and at 50% the cost of a new case, I decided to go with it. I figured I'd put 1x4s on each side of the board to take up some room and leave 1/2 an inch on each side for wiggle room. That left 13.5"x26" of board space which is pretty much perfect. My old board was flat with the PP2 and cables on top but this one I decided to make a wedge in the style of Pumaboards or Trailer Trash so I can put power below and run cables underneath.

So far I have the board built and sanded. I still need to tolex the sides (marshall green to match my cab) and put black plexi over the top. It kind of looks like crap at the moment, but it will look much better with tolex and plexi!! The top board especially look bad because I decided to reuse my old pedal board - cut and velcro removed. I could have gotten a new sheet of plywood but I like the idea of recycling and using the only piece of MDF I've even put my pedals on over the years :) As a side note, 3M velcro will never fall off. I had to yank it up with a pliers and it ripped the paint right off the board.

Here's the board as a work in progress. Hopefully by next weekend it will be done and ready for wiring!