VFE has canceled his authorized builder program

... proceeds to send a takedown request.

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My understanding is that "authorized resellers" could say they were selling VFE design pedals, likely including the artwork with a designation it was a private builder or something similar, and Peter was going to list the authorized resellers on his site. And I think the change means you can resell clones that do not misrepresent any type of affiliation/approval/endorsement by VFE. Not sure what would happen if someone started offering those builds on a larger than hobbyist builder scale.

I also wonder the extent to which Peter's decision to keep building his pedals during his school breaks is a factor since it puts him in competition with other builders using his designs. Maybe a better explanation from Peter will be provided since he has made his board designs available to hobbyists and (presumably) small clone pedal sellers for years.
 
Hmmm, you folks seem to have your mind made up but you have it all wrong. He's never done anything but be more than generous with his time and resources. Why all the hate?

He never said he was stopping building pedals. He always said he would continue to build small batches here and there, develop new designs, and do experimental stuff as time allowed. He just wasn't going to continue it as his full time job and be in constant production.
 
szukalski said:
On and off again. Building for the "DIY" community but including hard-to-source pots and proprietary switching. I love the sounds but some of the approaches don't gel with what I would call DIY friendly.
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The v2 Standard series boards weren't designed to be diy friendly. He was selling them commercially. Once he decided to stop commercial production, he has been redesigning them all for the SPS series in which one of the goals was to make them more DIY friendly.

He did a successful kickstarter to make the switching non-proprietary and it is now free to use.
 
Aentons said:
The v2 Standard series boards weren't designed to be diy friendly. He was selling them commercially. Once he decided to stop commercial production, he has been redesigning them all for the SPS series in which one of the goals was to make them more DIY friendly.

He did a successful kickstarter to make the switching non-proprietary and it is now free to use.
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Peter also now teaches electronics to high school students full time, and has simplified some pedal designs to make them easier for his students to build as learning tools.

These additional pedal builds he is selling are a changed course from what he had previously announced without ever acknowledging that he has done so. Perhaps that is another reason he cancelled the "authorized reseller" project so he could supplement his income without competing with "authorized" pedal sales from other builders. Given that some builders have inventory they may have been planning to build and sell as authorized pedals, Peter should provide more clarity about how those can be sold going forward.
 
Robert said:
First let me say I have nothing against Peter, I hope he keeps going forever, but ...

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I get it, but I think it is more of a wording issue, I don't think he was trying to be deceptive.

"VFE Pedals" the entity as a full time, professional, commercial pedal company ceased to exist and it's final production run was completed over an extended period of time.

He is now a hobbiest that only does small batch direct sales.

I think he intended to change the name to vofe to alleviate some of this kind of confusion, but it didn't take for whatever reason.
 
xefned said:
Peter of VonRutter Family Effects (VFE) wrote to me through Reverb to clarify how his files may be used.

Short version: you may not sell pedals of his design “as a for-profit entity.”
Those of you who bought DIY files (or the full Motherlode) from VFE might find this information useful.

Notes from Peter:
  • The authorized builder program has recently been canceled.
  • That doesn't mean individuals can't build and sell his designs; it just means that you cannot do so as a commercial (for profit) entity.
  • You can't advertise that you do custom builds of a VFE Pedal.
  • You can't list them on your own website.
  • Peter never authorized other builders to use the graphics. (In most cases, he purchased a license to use and modify someone else's artwork for commercial use. That license does not extend to third parties. Even if it did…)
  • Your graphic must be visually different from Peter's—whether built commercially or not. That way customers don't get confused about who built the pedal.
You may think this post is unnecessary to anyone who can read, but it all came as a complete surprise to me.
I broke nearly every rule above, and I was an authorized builder. (To be fair, I was only an authorized builder for 2 months. I planned to re-enroll once I got the kinks worked out.)

As a result, I cleared out the Woodchipper I had for sale on Reverb.
I'm not stirring up trouble. I hope some of you find this useful.
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This is confusing as well.

I think he means, now that the authorized program is over, no one can do these things, but as an authorized builder you could.
 
Aentons said:
I get it, but I think it is more of a wording issue, I don't think he was trying to be deceptive.
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Nah I'm not suggesting that he's being intentionally misleading, but at some point just stop with the final run thing. This clearly isn't the final run, and that's great, but can you imagine if JHS did the same thing?

Aentons said:
I think he means, now that the authorized program is over, no one can do these things, but as an authorized builder you could.
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Could be. But can you imagine being one of the people who "started a pedal business" using the "Start a pedal business!" program he offered, invested time and money into building up stock, paid for advertising, packaging, a web site, had stickers and instruction manuals printed, and then didn't even get an email saying the program was ending? Instead just the "friendly" equivalent of a C&D out of nowhere....

Apparently not even the opportunity to sell out the products you've already built. Just full stop, now. Sell it off in the Facebook Marketplace and meet up in the Walmart parking lot.

That's harsh, no matter how you look at it.
 
zgrav said:
These additional pedal builds he is selling are a changed course from what he had previously announced without ever acknowledging that he has done so. Perhaps that is another reason he cancelled the "authorized reseller" project so he could supplement his income without competing with "authorized" pedal sales from other builders.
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That's not true. He always said he would continue to do small runs. It even said so on the authorized builder page.

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I'll admit I didn't follow the program closely, but were there ever any Authorized VFE builders listed on that page?

And if not, why?
 
His rules make sense for DIYing them. That way he doesn't get sucked into supporting things he didn't actually build or legal issues around art.

I feel like the program never got traction and was a hassle to deal with, so he killed it. My only complaint would be, as previously noted, the "last VFE built ones evar!" that have never been the last run. I mean whatever, but don't jack up your prices for the "last ones ever", then turn around and build more next month.

All that I care about is my ability to offload pedals that I don't use at some point. As for what I can do with my extras PCBs, I have in writing that he gave me the ability to offload them however I want as long as they don't end up on his workbench for support.
 
Robert said:
Nah I'm not suggesting that he's being intentionally misleading, but at some point just stop with the final run thing. This clearly isn't the final run, and that's great, but can you imagine if JHS did the same thing?



Could be. But can you imagine being one of the people who "started a pedal business" using the "Start a pedal business!" program he offered, invested time and money into building up stock, paid for advertising, packaging, a web site, had stickers and instruction manuals printed, and then didn't even get an email saying the program was ending? Instead just the "friendly" equivalent of a C&D out of nowhere....

Apparently not even the opportunity to sell out the products you've already built. Just full stop, now.

That's harsh, no matter how you look at it.
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He did stop with the final run thing and it's over now and we are into small batches thing that he said he was going to do. He may do a batch of 10 pedals a month forever or he may never do another again.

I'm not sure what happened with the authorized builder thing, but I do know there were never any listed on his website. I'm sure he is willing to work with anyone who paid the monthly licensing fee
 
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