Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why are your drums so expensive?
Yes great question indeed and sorry for the sticker shock!
Here’s the deal, we are a family owned and operated company that chose to hand make drums (all shells, lugs, hoops, spurs, floor tom legs, all brackets) out of Raw Metals and Woods here in Austin, TX using locally sourced materials and hiring local drummers and artisans, and that is definitely expensive. However the sound and quality we get in return is uncompromising and we just couldn't do it any other way! We started in May of 2016 and actually hold a full design patent on our drums, along with a hand full of utility patents for various drum gadgets we are releasing every year!
2. Do you make your own shells?
Yes, absolutely. We make our own shells, hoops, lugs, tubes, spurs, legs, badges, leather gaskets, all of it!
3. What kind of heads come on your drums?
We partnered with REMO to make all our logo heads. For snares, we use Coated Ambassadors on top, Hazy on the bottoms. For toms, we use Coated Ambassadors on top, Clear on the bottom. For kicks, we use Clear P-3 on batter, Coated Ambassadors on front. We also offer custom straight collar heads for Pancake Snares, Timbales, and Timbalitos. If you would like a specific REMO head on your drum, just let us know and we will make it happen!
4. Can I custom order finishes on shells or lugs?
Great question, we are more of a curated company than a custom company, in that we carefully choose every color we have and it usually starts with a historical merit... a story that connected us, then leads to an A&F Series. We offer only Raw Brass, Untreated Brass, and Nickel Over Brass Hardware. However, we can make any size drum you can dream of! We make it all in house, so sky’s the limit!
5. Who makes your snare wires?
We make all our of own snare wires from 6”-28”. We offer 10”-16” for sale on our website and at any of our dealer locations!
6. Do you offer refunds?
Since all A&F drums are custom made to order, we can't offer refunds or cancellations.
7. Do you offer a warranty?
Our drums come with a Lifetime Manufacturing Warranty on everything we make.
8. How do you price your drums?
We never meant to start a company. The original mission was for Ramy Antoun (Founder/President) to make a drum for his personal use. After posting a video and a picture on his personal Instagram page, he had producer and engineer buddies message him about buying one as well. He read about what standard profit margins for a healthy small business should be (16-20%), chose 17% as a fair starting point, added that to the cost of raw materials, time spent to make it (labor), and standard overhead costs (rent/utilities), and arrived at a formula for pricing our drums.
Here’s a short film we released at NAMM in 2018 that documents the Who, What, Where, When and How of A&F Drum Co.