Building Pedalboards and Patch Cables?

[CrackTheSkye]

My dad and I recently began discussing building wedge style pedalboards out of diamond plate. He works for a place that has the resources as well as the equipment (water jet) to be able to make these pedalboards. If everything works out with our first prototype we may begin selling them and may even take custom requests. Anyone have any input on what they'd like to see in a pedalboard's design?

Also aside from that I have been pondering the idea of building patch cables and selling them. I know there are a lot of sellers out there but I thought since we were building the pedalboards, I could build patch cables to bundle with the pedalboards as well as sell separately. My question on this is which cable would be the easiest, best, and wallet friendly to work with.

All patch cables will be built using GLS pancake style plugs.

Cable options so far are:
Mogami 2319
Canare GS-4/GS-6 (GS-6 in various colors)
Gepco X-Band
Lava Mini Soar
Possibly Evidence Monorail (Although it is quite expensive and not really sure where to buy in bulk)

Which would be best to use from this list? Any other suggestions?

Not looking to get rich off of this, really just a hobby and something to do in the free time.

 

[teleclem]

Well, custom additional options are always good (in/out jacks on the side, holes for power cables, etc).

I see a lot of the patch cable makers are also Evidence Audio custom shops.

 

[CrackTheSkye]

Well, custom additional options are always good (in/out jacks on the side, holes for power cables, etc).

I see a lot of the patch cable makers are also Evidence Audio custom shops.

Most high end pedalboards I've seen have the in/out jacks on the side but I'm not sure how those actually work. I'm assuming they are used as in from guitar and out to amp but what are the jacks connected to? I'd like to see the underbelly of a pedalboard with the in/out jacks to see how they work.

As for the holes for power cables, I've already considered this and they will be featured on the pedalboard we are currently building.

 

[jnepo1]

Good luck w/ the build. I would suggest keeping your board design simple, the diamond plate sheets are somewhat heavy, and once loaded w/ effects can be really heavy. Choose your mounting surface as well, a diamond plated surface for pedals would be difficult to mount effects to.

Good choice of cables to choose from. That can be a personal choice, and custom lengths as well as plug orientation is also a consideration for custom builds.

If you plan on selling these boards as a business, be careful of copyright infringements. I have seen similar boards built by established companies.

 

[CrackTheSkye]

Good luck w/ the build. I would suggest keeping your board design simple, the diamond plate sheets are somewhat heavy, and once loaded w/ effects can be really heavy. Choose your mounting surface as well, a diamond plated surface for pedals would be difficult to mount effects to.

Good choice of cables to choose from. That can be a personal choice, and custom lengths as well as plug orientation is also a consideration for custom builds.

If you plan on selling these boards as a business, be careful of copyright infringements. I have seen similar boards built by established companies.

Thanks for the input! The top won't be diamond plate. It'll more than likely be a piece of plywood covered in velcro.

Will also be checking into other business' boards so that I can avoid any kind of infringement. It is not my intentions to copy anyone's designs. Also the selling of these boards would not be on a large scale. I am not looking to take this into a full production type of business. Just a couple of boards here and there. The selling of boards would only be to fund the building of more boards with minimal profit. Like I said this would be mainly a hobby and a way to occupy our free time.

Still interested in how the power jacks and input jacks on the side would tie into everything underneath the board.

Any input or experiences on the best cable for patch cables?

 

[djy8131]

Here is my homemade pedalboard from scrap diamond plate.

 

[CrackTheSkye]

Here is my homemade pedalboard from scrap diamond plate.

Looks good. Is the top made from strips of diamond plate?

 

[djy8131]

Yes, they are pieces of bent diamond plate welded to the side pieces

 

[CrackTheSkye]

Yes, they are pieces of bent diamond plate welded to the side pieces

Good job. Bet it's heavy tho right?

 

[djy8131]

A little heavier than a pedaltrain but still easy to carry since it is aluminum. I put it is a rubermaid like tub to transport it.

 

[CrackTheSkye]

A little heavier than a pedaltrain but still easy to carry since it is aluminum. I put it is a rubermaid like tub to transport it.

Cool!

Still looking for some input on the cable selection as well as more input on what you'd like to see in a board.