Gaff Tape Hack for Musicians: DIY Pedal Board Snake

If you’re a gigging musician, you’ve probably been in a situation similar to this at least once: the band before you went over on time and you’re left with 10 minutes to set up, but you’ve got to untangle all your effects cables. You’re scrambling, but you finally straighten them out and manage to plug them in, but while rushing, you’ve managed to plug in some cables incorrectly, and now you’ve got that to troubleshoot. Meanwhile the crowd is waiting for you to finish sound check, and the audio engineer is glaring at you from the back of the venue.

 Sounds like a fun time, right?

Whether you’re repeatedly in this situation on a gig, or you just want a simple “plug and play” solution that saves space and time, making your own effects pedal snake is a smart move. If you’re using a pedal board with perhaps an amp that has an effects loop, and time base effects, or if you're doing a multi amp setup - things can get complicated quickly.

When you’re running cable between the pedal board, the effects loop, and the return, some confusion may occur, especially when you’re in a hurry. So we’ve outlined some helpful tips to make your very own DIY Pedal Snake using only Pro Tapes brand gaff tape, and a sharpie:

• Ditch the Duct, and get some real gaff tape. Preferably white, for visibility.
• Tear off enough strips of your tape and temporarily stick them on a flat, clean surface.
• Using the strips of tape and a sharpie, make labels for each of the cables with their corresponding input on the pedal board, and the amp. (ex. Amp In, Pedal Board Out, FX Send/Out, etc.)
• Neatly wrap the labeled strips around the ends of your cables.
• Plug in all the cables in their appropriate place on your pedal board.
• Leaving the cables in your board, neatly lay out the remaining length of your cables on the floor.
• Group your cables together with your hands, and using your white gaff (or black if you want it to look really clean) tear off strips and bind your cables together, leaving enough room at the opposite end of your snake to comfortably plug into the various spots on your amp.

There you have it! Now you can coil this up as one cable and save yourself a ton of stress during set up and tear down after each gig, you look way more professional, and your stage looks super clean during your performance.

Let us know if you’ve made your own Pedal Snake, and share photos of your process with us on Facebook!