Dawn of a new era in pedal repair/development?

[R.G.]

You might be just as well off to do a series of videos on the most common mistakes, problems, repairs, etc, and either put them on a disc for sale or on a web site that is accessed for a fee.

Kinda like geofex, but charge money, right? 

[DavenPaget]

You might be just as well off to do a series of videos on the most common mistakes, problems, repairs, etc, and either put them on a disc for sale or on a web site that is accessed for a fee.

Kinda like geofex, but charge money, right? 

Where's zey "like" button , ARON ?!

[Electron Tornado]

I think you would sacrifice more than you would gain once people started to learn how to take advantage of it. It would be too easy for 10 min's to be charged for the "Hour Minimum", and a person to cram as many help sessions into a small time as possible to maximize their profits. I am  about 80% certain that is what would happen, and it will leave the smaller, good  guys with a bad rep. I used to do phone tech for the biggest ISP (at the time) through StarTek. Once I saw it from the inside there, I started observing it for many years and it's sickening how far it stretches. Nobody cares about quality anymore, just maximizing profits. Hell, it's not even a "quantity" thing anymore, more about how hard you can wring the towel dry.

There is a host of potential problems when trying to do this as a business. There are other issues regarding time as well. While you are helping someone, anyone else needing help must wait, and that could be an indefinite time (unless you want to have scheduled appointments for help). If this is a part time gig, how much time per day are you willing to spend being available, and during which hours will that be? Most people in a given range of time zones will usually be working on project during roughly the same period of time. If several people want help during that time, will there be enough people available to help them? Distant time zones and language barriers complicate things further.

[Mark Hammer]

There are undoubtedly a host of problems.  But at the same time, I can't begin to count the times that somebody has a $50 pedal that is near and dear to them, the repair is pretty trivial, but the shipping and repair costs would total the same as the pedal itself.  If $20 for an hour of support would get the thing fixed, verified for issues, and back in the owner's hands the same night, I think that's a good thing, isn't it?

As for the similarity between the various on-line resources (geofex, amz, FAQ here, etc), well, you can lead a horse to water.....nuff said.
Plus, people vary in how much they can turn to a reference source, extrapolate, and then confidently act.  There are more gear owners than there are people like that.

[Electron Tornado]

You might be just as well off to do a series of videos on the most common mistakes, problems, repairs, etc, and either put them on a disc for sale or on a web site that is accessed for a fee.

Kinda like geofex, but charge money, right? 

Yes, kind of.

Interestingly, there seems to be quite a number of instructional videos on You Tube that cover basic electronics.

[Earthscum]

Plus, people vary in how much they can turn to a reference source, extrapolate, and then confidently act.  There are more gear owners than there are people like that.

That actually made me think of something. An issue is that there are more gear owners than ALOT of other people, one being a person who owns BOTH a DMM and a soldering iron (and accompanying solder... don't laugh, lots of people have a solder gun in a junk drawer, and no solder. Ok, I laugh at them every time). Also, the ability to OWN such items does not imply the ability to USE them. And, again... there are alot more gear owners than people that even know how to use their gear properly.

HOWEVER... there may be a light to this idea. Consider how internet access and the tools needed to do this are  readily available "on the road" to techies. Those would probably be the best clientèle to start out with. Sure you carry backup gear, but sometimes "backup" gear is "barely working" gear, and you sweat at just the idea of sending off the main piece when you could surely go through it with someone and at least eliminate the trivial things. 

[Mark Hammer]

I look at this from a kind of "evangelical" perspective.  In other words, if they have the meter and the iron, but not the overview, chops, or confidence, a virtual hands-on consult is a nice way to build up that  confidence and perspective.  I think about this as a way of making more people less dependent on others.

[DougH]

I thought this was a thread about Spinal Tap Mark III...

[Earthscum]

I look at this from a kind of "evangelical" perspective.  In other words, if they have the meter and the iron, but not the overview, chops, or confidence, a virtual hands-on consult is a nice way to build up that  confidence and perspective.  I think about this as a way of making more people less dependent on others.

Give a man an ear of corn and he'll eat for a night, but teach a man to plant that corn...

lol, lead a horse to water was the first one I remember from my Dad, and the second was the corn. Nice to learn those at an early age!

[Ronan]

I know of a forum member who could use a skype session right now to get a vero build going. He's built it, it looks all good, but does not work. He has tried and tried. In this case, a skype session could get him over the hurdle and some good troubleshooting skills learnt. So that other forum members  don't "miss out", a message could be posted on the thread, briefly stating the troubleshooting procedure and the outcome.

I think its a great idea, many possibilities. So much time can be wasted typing words that are not fully understood, or instructions that are misconstrued or simply not carried out. Skype could pretty well eliminate that. I can imagine someone in a skype session saying "Oh is that what you meant when you said to check xyz! Ahhh, now I get it!"

[Earthscum]

Well, somebody is definitely giving the Skype thing a go:

http://wyoming.craigslist.org/muc/2796496014.html

"Skype Guitar Lessons

I offer a unique way to improve your guitar playing from home. If you have Skype and webcam - you can take lessons from a professional guitar player in greater Los Angeles area over the computer! ..."