Idea for a pedal,who do I approach..

KevS

I've had an idea for a pedal that would solve a lot of problems for Oh!! 25 Years now..
I think it would be a huge hit...I don't have the skill in electronics to build it..
Plus because of it's function the case wouldn't be just your normal box..
I have thought a few times someone else must have thought of this,but I don't see any around..
Today yet again I thought..I wish I had that pedal I thought of..
I am skint and don't just want to give the idea away..
I know it would be a pedal I would buy in an instant though..

Danny1969

Well you can't patent something you haven't designed, and even if you could it doesn't mean a lot as if someone copied it you would need the money to take legal action. 
Getting an idea across to a company is a difficult thing to do as just getting it on the desk of the right person is a mission that's hard to accomplish. 

I enjoy designing things, building things and selling them but in my experience you need to be able to build at least one prototype to prove the concept and test it in situ ... I don't sell anything I haven't gig'ed myself and found to be useful and reliable unless it's incredibly simple in design. 

Is a digital device or analog, that makes a big difference ?

KevS

Danny1969 said:

Well you can't patent something you haven't designed, and even if you could it doesn't mean a lot as if someone copied it you would need the money to take legal action. 
Getting an idea across to a company is a difficult thing to do as just getting it on the desk of the right person is a mission that's hard to accomplish. 

I enjoy designing things, building things and selling them but in my experience you need to be able to build at least one prototype to prove the concept and test it in situ ... I don't sell anything I haven't gig'ed myself and found to be useful and reliable unless it's incredibly simple in design. 

Is a digital device or analog, that makes a big difference ?

Analog..Vey much so..The electrics could have been built in the 60s..
It is the way they are applied that makes them useful..

ecc83

You could approach a company like Blackstar. One way to sort of protect an Idea is to spell it out in detail for  The World to see, here, HR forum and others Facebook etc and keep a hard copy maybe lodged with your solicitor and DATED. You will probably never make any money from the idea but once in the Public Domain nobody AFAIK can then patent it and you might just get your pedal made!

Dave.

JayGee

We do of course have the likes of ThorpyFX, Magnetic Effects, Fredric Effects, 4114 and probably quite a few others right here on the forums who may or may not be interested in discussing your idea...

monquixote

The old adage 1% inspiration 99% perspiration is true.

Ideas are worth a lot less than execution.

If you expect people to take you seriously you will probably need to put your hand in your pocket and get an electronics chap to make you a prototype.

In product development everyone thinks the problem is that your idea will be so amazing everyone will want to take it when usually the issue is that no one is interested in it at all.

Danny1969

If it's a simple circuit then you could just get someone to make the PCB side of things without explaining what it actually does. There are also many reference designs you can copy ... if I'm designing a low cost but usable  mic pre for example using a high performance opamp the first thing I will do is look at the manufacturers basic reference schematic,  and then adjust it from there. I was once involved with some guys who designed a gadget that detected faults in the metal of railway track, was all done using basic reference designs with little adjustments here and there. 

Take heart though in the fact that these days if you have a good idea for a pedal or guitar gadget you don't need anyone else to put it to market. Platforms like Etsy allow you to sell all over the world and you can just grow slowly and surely without borrowing money or getting tied up with deals with anyone else. I actually demonstrated my IEM pedal to a Southampton electronics company and they agreed to build it but in the end I just went on my own as there was more money in it for me and better quality control. 
I mean if I had designed the Klon circuit but given the design to Electro Harmonix to build I would have been totally dismayed at the poor implementation of it! 

So break the idea down into blocks, such as the routing, the processing and the mechanical then treat and discuss each one as an individual thing knowing you can put the parts together later 

EricTheWeary

I seem to remember Sporky getting nowhere with trying to produce a commercial version of his designs ( although I don’t know how hard he tried) which were established, successful but unprofitable made on a boutique basis. 

Boo Instruments, Bright Onion come to mind as well as the ones @JayGee mentioned. My guess is you might be best off having a conversation with that kind of company who can prototype and produce it. 

KevS

Right now I am playing with a Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe 2..
It is a great Pedal,but It needs my pedal added with it to perfect it..
Such a simple idea..Works with any distortion or overdrive pedal..
It is the application that matters,maybe I am giving the game away..
It is definitely do able..
It frustrates me this pedal does not exist..
It would especially work a treat with higher headroom amps..
I think there would be imitations of it pretty quickly..

i haven't any money to go it alone..
Maybe some pedal maker might be interested..
I probably wouldn't make much..
i just wish I had one,or more than one..

KevS

I also think it wouldn't necessarily be that an expensive pedal if a lot were manufactured..

slacker

EricTheWeary said:

I seem to remember Sporky getting nowhere with trying to produce a commercial version of his designs ( although I don’t know how hard he tried) which were established, successful but unprofitable made on a boutique basis. 

Boo Instruments, Bright Onion come to mind as well as the ones @JayGee mentioned. My guess is you might be best off having a conversation with that kind of company who can prototype and produce it. 

I bought some stuff from Andy and I borrowed the fuzz pedal he designed with Fernando. Good products.

Andy was active on HCFX at the same time as Sean from Lovepedal, Nick (RIP) from Catlainbread Davey Boggs from Loooper and some others (Brian, Bear, Tim/Devi-ever). The American companies were successful and MonkeyFX were not.

The actual point here is that someone had a mix of functional  (loops, boosts, splitters ) and some original designs( fuzz and over drives) in production when the popularity of pedals exploded and still couldn't get traction. 

Musicwolf

KevS said:

I've had an idea for a pedal that would solve a lot of problems for Oh!! 25 Years now..
I think it would be a huge hit...I don't have the skill in electronics to build it..
Plus because of it's function the case wouldn't be just your normal box..
I have thought a few times someone else must have thought of this,but I don't see any around..
Today yet again I thought..I wish I had that pedal I thought of..
I am skint and don't just want to give the idea away..
I know it would be a pedal I would buy in an instant though..

From your description it would appear that you believe that you have identified a market need, you have not come up with a patentable invention.  It's a bit like saying "I beleive that, were they to be made available, there would be a demand for flying cars.  But I don't know how to make one".

If you want to commercialise your idea you would need to set up a company, employ an Electronics Engineer (if they were working for you, and you were paying the patent fees, then the patent would belong to you) and then either manufacture and sell the product or licence the design.

The chances are that somebody else has already thought of this and it's either too difficult to make or they do not believe that it has legs commercially.

darthed1981

KevS said:

Right now I am playing with a Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe 2..
It is a great Pedal,but It needs my pedal added with it to perfect it..
Such a simple idea..Works with any distortion or overdrive pedal..
It is the application that matters,maybe I am giving the game away..
It is definitely do able..
It frustrates me this pedal does not exist..
It would especially work a treat with higher headroom amps..
I think there would be imitations of it pretty quickly..

i haven't any money to go it alone..
Maybe some pedal maker might be interested..
I probably wouldn't make much..
i just wish I had one,or more than one..

KevS

Musicwolf said:

KevS said:

I've had an idea for a pedal that would solve a lot of problems for Oh!! 25 Years now..
I think it would be a huge hit...I don't have the skill in electronics to build it..
Plus because of it's function the case wouldn't be just your normal box..
I have thought a few times someone else must have thought of this,but I don't see any around..
Today yet again I thought..I wish I had that pedal I thought of..
I am skint and don't just want to give the idea away..
I know it would be a pedal I would buy in an instant though..

From your description it would appear that you believe that you have identified a market need, you have not come up with a patentable invention.  It's a bit like saying "I beleive that, were they to be made available, there would be a demand for flying cars.  But I don't know how to make one".

If you want to commercialise your idea you would need to set up a company, employ an Electronics Engineer (if they were working for you, and you were paying the patent fees, then the patent would belong to you) and then either manufacture and sell the product or licence the design.

The chances are that somebody else has already thought of this and it's either too difficult to make or they do not believe that it has legs commercially.

I thought similar about nobody having thought of it..Such a Simple idea..I certainly don't think I am a genius..Far from it..lol..I would buy one definitely..I don't want to start a company..I have no money and my health is pretty bad,,heart attacks and various medical complaints...So maybe I should approach someone else I thought..Sometimes I think people look at things from the wrong angle though.You buy things thinking they are going to take care of that need,but they don't...I realised with my first ldea of the design there may be a snag..It made the device slightly more elaborate,,or heavy depending on which way you go to overcome the quirk..A Flying Car would be a very complex thing indeed..My idea is very simple..

Musicwolf

KevS said:

Musicwolf said:

KevS said:

I've had an idea for a pedal that would solve a lot of problems for Oh!! 25 Years now..
I think it would be a huge hit...I don't have the skill in electronics to build it..
Plus because of it's function the case wouldn't be just your normal box..
I have thought a few times someone else must have thought of this,but I don't see any around..
Today yet again I thought..I wish I had that pedal I thought of..
I am skint and don't just want to give the idea away..
I know it would be a pedal I would buy in an instant though..

From your description it would appear that you believe that you have identified a market need, you have not come up with a patentable invention.  It's a bit like saying "I beleive that, were they to be made available, there would be a demand for flying cars.  But I don't know how to make one".

If you want to commercialise your idea you would need to set up a company, employ an Electronics Engineer (if they were working for you, and you were paying the patent fees, then the patent would belong to you) and then either manufacture and sell the product or licence the design.

The chances are that somebody else has already thought of this and it's either too difficult to make or they do not believe that it has legs commercially.

I thought similar about nobody having thought of it..Such a Simple idea..I certainly don't think I am a genius..Far from it..lol..I would buy one definitely..I don't want to start a company..I have no money and my health is pretty bad,,heart attacks and various medical complaints...So maybe I should approach someone else I thought..Sometimes I think people look at things from the wrong angle though.You buy things thinking they are going to take care of that need,but they don't...I realised with my first ldea of the design there may be a snag..It made the device slightly more elaborate,,or heavy depending on which way you go to overcome the quirk..A Flying Car would be a very complex thing indeed..My idea is very simple..

It can always be that you have spotted a genuine gap, it happens.  The problem is that the money is in identifying and then filling that gap.  The latter takes belief, drive, taking risks etc.

MattBanshee

KevS said:

Right now I am playing with a Wampler Pinnacle Deluxe 2..
It is a great Pedal,but It needs my pedal added with it to perfect it..
Such a simple idea..Works with any distortion or overdrive pedal..
It is the application that matters,maybe I am giving the game away..
It is definitely do able..
It frustrates me this pedal does not exist..
It would especially work a treat with higher headroom amps..
I think there would be imitations of it pretty quickly..

i haven't any money to go it alone..
Maybe some pedal maker might be interested..
I probably wouldn't make much..
i just wish I had one,or more than one..

I literally can't think of anything that this could be that hasn't been done several times before.

darthed1981

Serious thought, basic electronics is a learning curve but not terribly hard.

Why not have a bash at building a prototype, learning as you go?

Something can be very simple in stated function (the internet's simple function "let every computing device talk to each other") but hideously complicated in execution.

But presumably if you already know it would not be a square box (so i assume its got a valve in it) and it would be heavy, you already have an idea what goes into the thing - so why not wire those bits together with a couple of jack sockets and see what happens?

Don't need to put in leds or switches or anything to prove a concept.

fretmeister

If it is 60s analogue tech then you could do a basic electronic course and build a prototype yourself.

Sassafras

Is it a boost pedal?

skunkwerx

Thats the thing, are you sure it will work as you think it will, considering the thing doesnt yet exist?

Am just thinking, if it was to exist, what side effects or issues may you encounter that havent been thought of or understood that may happen that would need remedying. 

I know pedal companies seem to churn out a lot of the same, or just straight up bizarre useless Fx these days, but usually if it were that easy or if there were a genuine market they’d have already done it.

Is it a thing of its own thing, or a thing that would only be useful using with other fx boxes?

prowla

Is it a mechanical knob twiddler?