Should I get a cowbell?
Gear Rental Business... Could It Work?
- Thread starter Torren61
- Start date
yolandyoung
TDPRI Member
How are things now? Did you make it work?
Toadtele
Friend of Leo's
Torren61 hasn’t been around for months now. I was thinking I should reach out and check on him.
Yeah I tried that a while ago. Sadly I got Nada, zip, zilch.
I hope he's doing alright. I liked him.
Sad, yet true. Unfortunately I can also see you putting ‘please look out for xxxxxxx, serial number yyyyyyy’ posts on here when stuff worth more than the deposit doesn’t find its way home.
That’s the attitude………………………..not.
Whatizitman
Poster Extraordinaire
EDIT: oh, didn’t see it’s an old thread, and OP is MIA. Hope all is ok. 
The tax issue makes me think @Torrent61 is not out for a profit. Just some write off to help with GAS. Totally legal and legit. Even in CA.
No profit means no (or very few). Market your wares accordingly. In other words, NOT working musicians. Surely there are some blues lawyers who just wanna test drive vintage gear, but don’t want to be collectors. Take it to their house. Give them a few tips, and let ‘em loose for an hour or so. Charge accordingly. That is, exorbitantly. Get a few bites a year, or none. Report the loss at tax time.
As to the re-amping idea. Not sure it would fly very high, given stiff competition from modelers and DAWs. But it’s cheap to set up. And has similar tax losses, er, liabilities.
The tax issue makes me think @Torrent61 is not out for a profit. Just some write off to help with GAS. Totally legal and legit. Even in CA.
No profit means no (or very few). Market your wares accordingly. In other words, NOT working musicians. Surely there are some blues lawyers who just wanna test drive vintage gear, but don’t want to be collectors. Take it to their house. Give them a few tips, and let ‘em loose for an hour or so. Charge accordingly. That is, exorbitantly. Get a few bites a year, or none. Report the loss at tax time.
As to the re-amping idea. Not sure it would fly very high, given stiff competition from modelers and DAWs. But it’s cheap to set up. And has similar tax losses, er, liabilities.
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Bob Womack
Friend of Leo's
I've got a keyboard sitting in the foyer of my studio at work right now in an anvil case with FedEx stickers on it. I used it for a session yesterday. My company deals with a great back line rental organization regularly. In fact, the way we ended up with the keyboard was that we rented it so often that they eventually considered it a rent-to-own. This guy has everything from Steinway and Yamaha pianos to vintage guitars and amps. They can ship anywhere and can deliver regionally.
The key is to not be in the least bit emotionally connected to the instruments. That's the only way it works. They will get beaten up. You have to cycle them through because there's a point where they are no longer reliable. We once rented a console from this company to serve as one of five in front of house and monitor worlds for a huge production.
Front of house tent with consoles for visiting bands, show and 75 voice choir, and 50-piece orchestra
A rain storm blew in. We bagged everything and put up the tent walls there at front-of-house world as it approached. Nevertheless, the water got in and drowned the far console in the pic. The rental guy just came in smiling, replaced it with another, and took it to a shop to be repaired. We had event insurance and paid for the repair. That's they way it goes in the rental biz.
Bob
The key is to not be in the least bit emotionally connected to the instruments. That's the only way it works. They will get beaten up. You have to cycle them through because there's a point where they are no longer reliable. We once rented a console from this company to serve as one of five in front of house and monitor worlds for a huge production.
Front of house tent with consoles for visiting bands, show and 75 voice choir, and 50-piece orchestra
A rain storm blew in. We bagged everything and put up the tent walls there at front-of-house world as it approached. Nevertheless, the water got in and drowned the far console in the pic. The rental guy just came in smiling, replaced it with another, and took it to a shop to be repaired. We had event insurance and paid for the repair. That's they way it goes in the rental biz.
Bob
JustABluesGuy
Friend of Leo's
I’m confused. Are you taking about selling “a service” like re-amping or are you planning to rent the gear out.
I would only rent gear out if you specifically want to write the gear off as a loss on your business taxes.*
*Edit: Oops! I guess I should have read the thread first.
I would only rent gear out if you specifically want to write the gear off as a loss on your business taxes.*
*Edit: Oops! I guess I should have read the thread first.
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JustABluesGuy
Friend of Leo's
Yeah, and only to reputable studios. There are plenty of home studios in the bedrooms of Jr. high school students!
daddyplaysbass
Tele-Afflicted
Remember; you would be dealing with musicians.
teletail
Friend of Leo's
Read the tax code before you start to salivate at the thought of benefiting from it. If it was easy, everyone would do it. I‘d price insurance too because your precious equipment is going to get beaten like a red haired step child, the pieces you get back anyway.
The most likely outcome is you lose money, get no tax benefits and wind up with a bunch of broken, beat up equipment.
But good luck!
The most likely outcome is you lose money, get no tax benefits and wind up with a bunch of broken, beat up equipment.
But good luck!
I think you can get backline rentals in most cities.I lived in Park City Utah and our concert people would rent stuff all the time.
It will definitely work in my area. Not too easy to find a reliable gear renting company. You just need to learn more about how to start a business and check the market and your competitors.
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In order to have a successful backline business, you need to have multiple copies of the the rider-friendly gear that is in demand today, and enough market that you can pay off a piece of gear within the first 30 days of adding it to your inventory.
LOSTVENTURE
Friend of Leo's
Not going to happen with any of my stuff. And I've had lots of offers.
Ok, you've piqued my interest... Can we some pics of said gear?
Engine Swap
Friend of Leo's
…***
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These guys sell off their stuff after a while.
4pickupguy
Doctor of Teleocity
Glamping!!
