What do Lionel Richie, Run the Jewels and David Bowie have in common? Studio Instrument Rentals on Sunset
Studio Instrument Rentals co-founder Dolph Rempp talks about his first client, Jimi Hendrix.
Although unassuming from the street, a single business along Sunset Boulevard has arguably aided more musical superstars than any other: Studio Instrument Rentals.
Founded by Ken Berry and Dolph Rempp in 1967 to service the recording scene along Guitar Row in Hollywood, the company now is celebrating 50 years in business.
And what a half-century.
In those decades, its Los Angeles hub has in one way or another catered to “every single group that you could imagine,” Berry says, including the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Madonna, Lionel Richie, Run the Jewels, Sonny & Cher, Stevie Nicks and Janis Joplin.
Its compound is a music cathedral. Rows of electric guitars line walls. In a second-floor wing, rows of shelving hold hundreds of percussion instruments. Another space is devoted to DJ gear.
FULL COVERAGE: Mapping Sunset Boulevard’s musical history »
Rempp recalls one of the company’s earliest clients, Jimi Hendrix, with a story of introducing the master guitarist to his first wah-wah pedal and connecting it to an amplifier designed for electric organs.
“He recommended Eric Clapton, because he was doing some shows,” Rempp says, “so we ended up getting to know Eric Clapton and running around and doing stuff for him too.”
Rempp says that he helped the guitarist track down a custom Gibson SG with gold humbuckers.
As the demand grew, he adds, “we thought, ‘Wow, this could be a good business — helping other people get whatever they need for a show or whatever.’ ”
When during an interview he’s alerted that guitarist Paul Stanley of KISS is downstairs, Rempp is nonchalant; they’ve worked with the band for four decades.
Before relocating in the mid-’90s to its current location a block west of Amoeba Music, Studio Instrument Rentals operated in a number of complexes in Hollywood, most notably in a building near the old Columbia Pictures lot at 6048 Sunset Blvd.
The company now has 13 locations in cities including Miami, Chicago, Nashville, San Francisco and Seattle.
The anchor location sits amid storied studios — Sunset Sound, EastWest and United. Major label consolidation shuttered the Sunset offices of Motown, RCA, Columbia, Geffen, Liberty and more, but that hasn’t affected Studio Instrument Rentals’ bottom line.
As long as artists need gear, tour support, rehearsal space and technicians, the company’s getting paid. It continues to be the bond that connects neighborhood studios, labels, agents and artists.
These days Studio Instrument Rentals’ trucks run all over the metro area, delivering gear from an arsenal that includes thousands of instruments, DJ setups, mixing boards, amplifiers and props.
Inside the Sunset location, musicians have their choice of three stages and eight studios, and on any given day the place is a mess of musical creativity.
“We’ve rented a lot of exotic things to different bands,” Berry says. “A couple different artists have said, ‘We want every drum you have in the store.’ So we’d pack up a couple trucks and bring them up to the studio.”
That was years ago, Berry says, when all their drums could fit in a couple trucks. “Now, you’d have to take 10 trucks.”
For tips, records, snapshots and stories on Los Angeles music culture, follow Randall Roberts on Twitter and Instagram: @liledit. Email: randall.roberts@latimes.com.
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