An Interview with Peter
Rutter of VFE Pedals
By Dan Bee
 |
| The Proto OD III |
VFE Pedals is a boutique effects pedal
company started by Peter Rutter. Many musicians use effects pedals to
help shape their sounds to stand out, be more unique, or get the
sound they hear in their head out to the audience. A lot of these
“stompboxes” are mass produced by large companies but in recent
years the market for boutique market has been growing. In my eyes, Mr.
Rutter is custom hand building some of the best made pedals available
today. I personally own and use 7 different builds Peter has made and have one out on loan to our bassist Nikki Lee who uses an early build called the "Proto OD III". Peter was kind enough to make time to answer some interview
questions via email.
DB: VFE stands for “VonRutter Family
Effects”, how is your family involved in your business?
Rutter: When pedal building transitioned
from hobby to business, I was still a full-time teacher. My brother
built most of the pedals during this time, and he helped come up with
several names of the pedals. My dad has contributed financially a key
moments, like paying for our air travel to get me to my first NAMM
show in January. Right now I am the only member of the family that's
officially working for VFE,
Just FYI, "VonRutter Family
Effects" is a play on words, from the "VonTrap Family
Singers" in the Sound of Music movie. My last name is
Rutter...some people think it must be VonRutter, but that's part of
the joke!
DB: What kind of educational and work
background do you have?
Rutter: I have a general Associate of Arts
degree, Bachelors in Mathematics (physics minor), and a Master's in
Teaching. I taught high school mathematics from Pre-Algebra up to
Calculus for five years.
DB: How was VFE started?
Rutter: I bought some DIY kits from Build
Your Own Clone in the spring of 2008. By the summer, I was already
modifying these kits and coming up with my own ideas. I couldn't keep
everything I made on a private school teacher's salary, so I sold
them on eBay. My ideas kept progressing until I decided to try my
hand at designing an original circuit board layout, which was quite
simple compared to my current pedals. After that, people kept buying
and things kept growing. We decided to make it official in January
2010, which is officially when VFE Pedals began.
DB: How did you recognize an
opportunity and develop it?
Rutter: Honestly, this was just something I
did as a hobby that grew into a business. My wife & I thought
that summer 2011 would be the best transition time to start working
full-time on the business. But we were compelled to start living a
different life than that of a private school teacher (no extra time &
no extra resources). We wanted to be able to give away our time &
resources, so the flexibility of running my own business led me to
start working full-time at VFE 12-18 months earlier than we had
planned.
DB: What problems did you encounter as
the business got underway and how they were solved?
Rutter: There are still problems to be
solved, but here is one example. I originally sold direct &
through eBay only. I had dealers knocking on the door, but I knew
that I would have to raise prices to have enough margin to sell to
dealers. I didn't want to raise prices without improving the product,
as I felt that was unfair to do to the customer. So I worked on some
new ideas to improve the quality of the switching system, a more
professional silkscreen graphic, and a longer warranty. All these
improvements added only a small amount to my cost, but added
significant value. This allowed me to raise pricing to the point
where there was enough margin to sell to dealers.
DB: What advice would you give to an
aspiring entrepreneur?
Rutter: Start young, and learn from your
mistakes. I was a teacher & obviously encourage people to get an
education, but I think some people need to start businesses right out
of high school or right out of college (or during college). I've
learned more from doing than I ever did from someone lecturing at me.
Also, if you don't have a clear vision,
don't start. Get a job & start something as a hobby first. Until
you have a clear vision, even if you make money, you won't be
satisfied because you'll know that the product or service you offer
is sub-par.
DB: Is VFE a passion for you?
Rutter: Yes. I am thinking about new ideas
about the smallest little details all the time. Most "light
bulb" moments come when I'm not in the shop, so it's definitely
on my mind a lot. If I could step away from the business side for a
few months & just develop ideas, well, it would be crazy. But I
need to keep focused on what products we already have!
DB: Is there a lot of competition in
your market and if so, is it cut throat?
Rutter: I've found that most guys in the
boutique pedal market are very amiable, and love to talk shop. There
are some ideas they hold close to the chest, which is understandable,
but in general I've found the community of builders to be a valuable
resource. I think we all understand that if we build great products,
we don't have to worry about each other. There is plenty of business
going to manufacturers that create uninspiring products, and as the
Internet continues to bring smaller builders closer to the world,
many more musicians are "growing up" knowing about way more
options that just the big names. To wrap it up, I think the best
products & customer experience is the biggest factor for success,
especially in the age of social media, so I don't worry about
competing with other builders.
DB: Do you find customers to be respond
more to new products or improvements to existing products?
Rutter: There are two things that I think
customers respond to the most. The first is truly original ideas.
Music is a creative art, so musicians love to see creative work. The
other is taking ideas that have been around & bringing them
together in a new way that's so intuitive that the sum is greater
than the parts. Take The Scream for example. There are zero new
ideas, at least as far as what could be done to the Tubescreamer
circuit. But The Scream puts all those ideas into a single compact
space that not only can do all the tones of the tubescreamer
variants, but also entirely new ones of its own.
DB: What hopes do you hold for the
future for VFE?
Rutter: I have a number of crazy ideas, but
my focus right now is the compact lineup of effects we currently
offer. I've found that if I allow myself to be distracted with too
many other ideas, I can't build a better product, and I don't serve
the customer or the dealers that support me as well. So while I plan
to create different product lineups in the future, it's our focus on
the building the best products we can right now that really allows
VFE to continue to improve already great products. I hope that makes
sense. I've found that by continuously pressing in on the design in
every season, I come up with new ideas naturally without having to
"look forward" into our distant future.
