Pedal Rental - Would it interest you?

ash96

Just seeing what demand there would be for something like this. Not sure if it would be an £x per rental depending on the pedal, or more of a subscription based thing where you get unlimited rentals per month, but maybe 1 at a time at a certain price, 3 at a time at another etc.

Could be a way for people to try out pedals on their own terms, with their own gear, at whatever volume they want. There's a place in America that does it, but haven't seen anything similar over here. Could also be good for rarer pedals, and for stuff that isnt as commonly stocked. Would also work well for recording, if you've got a session book, potentially hire a bunch to take with you.

Just seeing if my love got gear and pedals could turn into something useful :-)

Any thoughts / feedback would be great!

duotone

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/108137/fx-pedal-rental-com/p1

EricTheWeary

There was at least one other company that tried and folded as well.
With pedals you can own them for a bit and resell and that’s probably more convenient and cheaper ( if you’ve bought used) than renting in some ways. The fx pedal rental people ( who have a membership here) have gone for harder to find/ more expensive gear which seems to make sense. Although they need to keep up to date buying £400 boutique pedals so there’s a fair chunk of investment needed. Presumably they get a few rentals out of each one then put them on eBay, I don’t feel they are raking the money in. 

Would it interest me? Just me personally maybe exceptionally just to try something  I really fancied then yes but I’m hardly Mr Highendgear so you couldn’t build a business model around the likes of me. 

Sassafras

I think it's called 'distance selling regulations'.
You buy something and then return it for a refund if you don't like it.

MrSwanson

I can see why you might want to do so as a customer but not as a business, so much hassle would be involved (people ruining/breaking/not returning etc...)

ash96

Yeah to be fair I suppose that all makes sense. The optimist in me was hoping it would work, but like you say, distance selling regs kinda mean you can do that anyways as long as you’ve got the money to front in the first place. 

Theres a company called pedal genie in the US that does pretty well from what I can see

guitargeek62

No interest from me at all - the used market is already pretty predictable in this sense, so I don't really consider depreciation (on secondhand items) much if I just want to buy something as a curio.

Gadget

Here's an idea off the top of my head...

Why not a true online pedal 'rental' / experience?

The punter books an hour / half hour session with the 'pedal demo company' online, then gets to play live and send their guitar signal over the internet, which the company rep then runs through the chosen effect(s) whilst tweaking the controls as directed?

Might catch-on?...

photek

@Gadget Is this just so the reps job can be 'Full time online knob tweaker'

Gadget

photek said:

@Gadget Is this just so the reps job can be 'Full time online knob tweaker'

Haha   Something like that

Gulliver

Lenses for Hire works in the camera world, but I think that's because the cheapest thing they rent out would cost you £400 to buy - and they charge you £24 for 3 days with it.

I think that pedals are generally a little too cheap for a rental business to really work.  Maybe if you were renting high-end effects and amps it might work, but the cost of shipping amps would probably not make it financially viable.

Gadget

Gulliver said:

Lenses for Hire works in the camera world, but I think that's because the cheapest thing they rent out would cost you £400 to buy - and they charge you £24 for 3 days with it.

I think that pedals are generally a little too cheap for a rental business to really work.  Maybe if you were renting high-end effects and amps it might work, but the cost of shipping amps would probably not make it financially viable.

Lenses like that are usually rented by pros, so the cost is offset against both tax and profit.

richardhomer

Even Phil Harris no longer acts as plant-hire specialist to the stars, as I understand it.

As others have alluded - if you want to know what a ‘vintage’ CE-2 sounds like - buy one. If you want to move it on, you will easily recover your money.

If it’s the latest Strymon - or whatever - buy it on line and return if it’s not for you....