(editor’s note: A&F is the latest manufacturer to hop on board DrumSellers.com. Thanks, Ramy, for selling your cool hardware at our marketplace.You can buy A&F HERE)
Ramy Antoun, veteran drummer, songwriter, producer and entrepreneur, is also the founder and president of A&F Drum Company. Together with his staff, he has continued to innovate each year, bringing out new products with a vintage vibe. Ramy has described A&F as “simple design, practical application and brilliant sound.” In a short time, the A&F Drum Company has become an iconic brand with a distinct look, feel and sound. It started off with brass shell snare drums and has blossomed into a diverse range of snare drums, timbales/timbalitos, “pankick”, chinese/concert toms, and drum kits of various woods (mahogany, maple, walnut) and metals (aluminum, bronze, copper, steel, nickel-plated brass). In 2019, A&F announced their collaboration with Sabian to produce their Ankh series of brass and bronze cymbals: https://www.notsomoderndrummer.com/not-so-modern-drummer/2019/6/4/aampf-drumssabian-ankh-collaboration. This collaboration has expanded further into the A&F/Sabian Ankh series of drums made out of Sabian hammered bronze.
Ramy does not rest on his laurels. Constantly looking to do more and do better, he has recently expanded the A&F line-up to include an array of innovative nickel-plated drum hardware: snare/tom/kick stand, cymbal stand, pedal mount for snare stand, hoop mounted clamp and L-arm, kick-bone, cocktail basket and kick pedal clamp. Ramy and his crew spent 2 years studying over 100 vintage stands and other hardware in order to develop their own unique design. The intention was to maintain the best of the old and improve upon it. Ramy described the process as “reinventing some wheels and trying to perfect others.” He said, “I’m so happy that I didn’t settle and pushed through every single thing that I wanted.” I discussed the design process and features of the A&F hardware further with Ramy.
NSMD: What motivated you to go into hardware?
Ramy: “Three years of torture (laughs) - so you might ask why would you do it? The first reason was the same reason why A&F even happened. I was just trying to fulfill my own need. In general, it was why this particular thing wasn’t happening for me. I loved these vintage stands, but they always fell down. Or a part wore out, and I’d have to look for a replacement in the hardware. It might work but looks horrible because it was mismatched stuff. I’ve played all the vintage-inspired stands. They were great, but I had some things I liked that weren’t in the vintage stands. I was after a very specific hardware that was reminiscent of the very cool features of vintage stands but had a lot of modern applications and stability.”
NSMD: You mentioned being heavily influenced by vintage hardware. Were there any particular brands/models that stood out?
Ramy: “Marvel was the biggest one. Marvel represented the style of stand I loved the most. I think they were from or connected to Walberg & Auge. I believe Walberg & Auge invented the 360-degree U-clamp, even though Rogers made it popular.
NSMD: Can you tell me a little bit about the unique aspects of A&F hardware and the design process?
Ramy:
FINISH - “I’ve always loved nickel. The nickel that we’re used to from vintage drums is tarnished and has lost a little bit of its luster, but it’s beautiful. I wondered what new nickel would look like on hardware. It would, over time, look like the old nickel. I thought that would fit the A&F branding.”
FEET – “Ironically, I started with the feet, the rubber feet. I just never understood why the feet were so small on other stands and why they couldn’t be self-adjusting. I’d seen so many camera tripods or microphone stands even that could self-adjust. Our stands have 1.5” circular, rubber, self-adjusting feet.”
MATERIAL – “The other important part of the design was the material – the choice of casting vs. stamping. It took some time and considerable investment. A&F stands start out as a sheet of solid metal (carbon steel), never melted. Most of the hardware in our industry is cast. You create a mold, change the form of the metal into a liquid, and pour it in. Sometimes that metal has filler in it to reduce the cost. With us, it’s a sheet of carbon steel and it’s stamped.
We create these molds, and the molds cut out the different components of the stand. The stand is then assembled by hand. It adds a little bit of weight, but I wanted that. I didn’t want to make ultra-light stands; others do that well already. I wanted something that was stable and felt substantial. So, they’re not so super-heavy but not super-light either. Where we gain in the weight, we gain in structure. Also, I knew from my experience that the hardware does affect sound. Especially, when you are talking to a company that uses snare stands for rack tom mounts. We had to take into account resonance factor from snare stands.”
BASKET – “Another important component of our design was in the baskets. I probably stuck a rack tom on at least 40-45 different basket styles, both vintage and modern. I tried different rubber footings at the end of the arms, different shapes and configurations. I’d take a 12” rack tom with a microphone in the room, set up about 10 stands at a time, and hit it to hear the effect on the sound. If you take the tom in your hand and hit it, that’s the most resonance a rack tom is going to have while touching something. The human body is the best “stand”, so we needed to design the second best! (laughs). Then I would set it on the test basket and hit it. If it lost any resonance, I’d write it down, rating it from a 1-10 scale (10 = best). I did this for all 40-45 stands. I eventually figured out the best combination. The shape of basket arms, the way the drum sat on top of the basket structure, and the arm sleeves were all critical. The sleeves had to be made of certain materials and have a specific inside shape that contacted the side of the drum and hoop. All these things came together to make the most resonant tom stand.
We came up with two baskets. The standard one will go from 10” - 17.5”. We make a larger basket that will hold an 18” to 22.5”. The base of the stand has three different notches. Using the bottom notch making the stand its widest, that stand does not move – and I play a 22” pancake.”
STAND HEIGHT: “We tried to max out the range of the snare stand height. The base of the A&F cymbal stand, and the base of the snare stand are identical with regard to the receiver side, so you can take the basket from the snare stand and place it in the base of the cymbal stand to play standing up. You add about 24” to the maximum height of the snare stand.”
SNARE STAND ANGLE: “We designed the snare stand so that you could mount a drum completely vertical. This enables you to play it like a bass drum. We sell a pedal attachment called the Pedal Mount which has a spike which drops down and a bar to attach a pedal. I have a heavy foot and really laid into it. I can certify this thing is really stable!”
CYMBAL STAND: “One thing that has bugged me forever has been when I play my cymbal, the wing nut get loose, loose, loose and then flies off. That used to drive me nuts. We solved that problem. You know about lock nuts? They have a tiny strip of latex on one end of the nut so that, when you tighten it down, it doesn’t come off easy. You can even play your cymbals super loose, but that wing nut’s not going anywhere. We installed the same latex in the top thread of our wingnuts. We are going to be offering the A&F wing nut independently as well.
Also, my vintage stands always stripped at the pivot joint. Over time, you have to tighten it harder to keep it in place until you finally strip the screw. In the A&F joint, there is a soft aluminum strip. When you tighten it down, the teeth on the inside of the two joint components lock into that aluminum plate. Over time, that aluminum strip will eventually wear down, but that is a part we will sell for couple of bucks. It’s replaceable. You will never strip the components of your stand. Hopefully, you have your stand for 5-7 years with no issues but, maybe on the 8th year, the aluminum strips. You just spend a few bucks for a new aluminum strip, and it’s like having a whole new stand.
One other thing. On the cymbal stand, we used red felt. That was my ode to the old school cymbal stands. Felts were red and white but not so much black like today. Ludwig had red felt on their baseball bat mufflers. I really wanted red felt.”
NSMD: You have made some rather unusual pieces of hardware like the kick-bone and cocktail basket?
Ramy:
KICK-BONE - “I have always been inspired by the traps with all the bells and whistles. I love that stuff. I own quite a bit of it myself. The idea of the kick-bone was inspired by my desire to put snare (wires) on everything; snares on floor toms, snares on timbales, and so on. I wondered how I could add snares to a kick drum, and have it function like a snare where I can engage and disengage it? We called it a kick-bone because it can slide up and down like a trombone (to engage and disengage). We made the first one and realized we could attach not only snare wires but even mufflers like the old vintage bass drums – even tambourines. We filed a patent and got it. We’re up to around 6 patents so far.
The first version of the kick-bone we made was raw brass. The limitation with that was - once we bent that brass around the internal clamps that go on the bass drum hoops, you could never take those clamps off. (because the metal is bent on both sides). One of my underlying principles for hardware is to be modular. I want you to be able to use these pieces individually as well. With the new kick-bone, you can take it completely apart. Then you have two hoop-mounted clamps and two L-shaped arms that you could mount anything to - outside of it being a kick-bone.”
COCKTAIL BASKET – (This allows you to take two drums a make a compact cocktail kit by clamping one drum to another). “The idea was to enable you to make a cocktail kit with any of your drums. You’re not limited to the drums that might come with a standard cocktail kit. The clamp allows you to evenly distribute the weight of the mounted drum. The top part can be adjusted 360 degrees. The weight is not a pull weight but a push weight. For example, if you show up to an acoustic gig but they have a full kit, you can just grab the floor tom and snare drum, attach the Cocktail Basket, and have a cocktail kit. We filed a patent on this as well.”
TEST-DRIVE:
First impressions -
The outside of each A&F hardware box contains an artist rendition of the piece, much like a figure found in a patent. This seems well-aligned with the branding and distinctive vintage vibe of A&F. The weight is also listed for each of the stands. For those of us with bad backs and no drum tech, weight is definitely a consideration.
Snare stand = 5.6 lbs.
Boom cymbal stand = 5.71 lbs.
Straight cymbal stand = 5.71 lbs.
As described by Ramy, these stands are significantly lighter than many conventional, double-braced stands, but not ultra-light. They are indeed quite sturdy and offer excellent stability with the pivoting feet. Given that I’ve had to play in many clubs and outdoor gigs with uneven floors/platforms, I really dig the “self-leveling” feet and the 1.5” diameter to grab more surface if possible.
Fit and finish –
The plating and build quality were really superb on all the hardware. The nickel plating again plays into the vintage vibe and just looks totally cool (in my humble opinion). Overall, the hardware design exudes the vintage look and feel. I could see some aspects old Rogers (U-clamps) and Marvel, but these have been clearly updated by A&F to modern standards.
Function –
The pivot joints on the cymbal stands (boom and head portions) were incredibly smooth to adjust and, when locked down, were very secure. The aluminum washers allowed the teeth to grab and fit snugly. I never had to re-tighten these stands while playing.
The locking wing nut on the cymbal stands performed exactly as described; I never had any wing nuts fly off while playing (I gave them a heavy-duty workout!).
Each of the stands had holes/slots at various positions in the base of the center post to lock in the spread diameter and also adjust the height. A&F refers to this design as the “Pull-Pin multi-position tripod”. The snare had three heights/hole adjustments, while cymbal stands had two. Stand base tripods are locked in by pulling out the “pin” and then releasing at the desired position. Clearly, the bases of these stands were designed to never slip as they are securely locked in place.
The snare drum stand, together with the kick pedal clamp, offers amazing versatility and opportunities to explore new sounds. The standard and large snare baskets allow you to mount snares or other drums anywhere from 10 – 22”! This is a huge range! I have quite a few snares that are 10, 12, 13 14, 15 and 16” in diameter. For those with similar size drums, I’m sure it comes as no surprise that finding suitable stands is not an easy task. Having baskets like these are a dream come true. In addition, you can mount any drum vertically and attach a kick pedal to it. Your setup could include a pancake, a standard snare, an electronic drum pad, or whatever. The hardware flexibility opens up a wide variety of creative choices.
The kick-bone was also a very interesting piece of hardware. It offers seemingly endless possibilities for novel percussive sounds and effects. As nicely stated on the box, “Add endless acoustic sound effects or muffling to your bass drum and control it on the fly from your drum throne!...Attaches to any wood hoop using our wood hoop clamps, just add Velcro to any snare wires, BigFat tambourine, buffing wheel, etc. for tons of acoustic analogue sonic variations, sky’s the limit.” My test package came with a BFSD tambourine topper, snare wires, and a large red felt muffler. Given that we have been using such attachments in conjunction with snare drums for years, it was fun to explore this on a bass drum. I really enjoyed playing around with the BigFat tambourine on the kick-bone: an interesting contrast of low tones combined with tambourine jingles. It was not “just about thud” anymore! With the snare drum wires, I could easily add or remove the wires contacting the head quickly. Many new, creative ideas went through my mind when combining the vibrations of wires with such low frequency percussion. With the red muffler pad, I was no longer restricted to one degree of resonance with my bass drum. I could add or retract the muffler with the kick-bone as needed. No gaff tape, changing heads, or pillows needed.
On the more conventional side, A&F also offers a hoop-mounted clamp and L-arm. This hoop-mounted clamp/arm proves quite handy for adding a cowbell, woodblock, small splash cymbal, tambourine, block trigger, etc. I am a bit protective of my hoops, so I recommend adding a small bit of rubber or felt on the metal inner side of the clamp to protect from hoop rash (same with the kick-bone). The A&F hoop-mounted clamp and L-arm is a small piece of hardware which I envision as essential to be prepared for any gig.
NOTE: During the review, I was informed that the production versions of the A&F clamps now have soft rubber bands which wrap around the metal to prevent any hoop wear.
Lastly, I ventured into trying out the cocktail basket. I have admittedly played, but never used in performance, a cocktail kit. As Ramy mentioned, I’m one of those people that just wouldn’t buy a separate cocktail kit since I don’t have a consistent use for it. However, for those small gigs where a djembe or cajon is just not enough, a cocktail kit would be rather nice (in addition to playing while standing). In this case, I took a 14” floor tom, my trusty 6.5” raw brass, engraved A&F snare, and the cocktail clamp and gave it a go. It took me a few minutes to figure out the best position/angle to orient the snare and tom, but once I got the hang of it, the set-up worked rather nicely. Like all other A&F hardware tested thus far, this clamp is very sturdy and provided excellent support while playing. A bass drum pedal can be attached via an additional floor tom pedal clamp. So, with two drums, the cocktail basket clamp and floor tom pedal clamp, you have a cocktail kit ready to go. I guess a cocktail kit gig may be in my future…post-COVID.
SUMMARY:
The A&F Drum Company hardware looks amazing in nickel plating. The craftsmanship is excellent, marrying form and function. These stands do reflect some of the best ideas of early and modern drum history but truly represent the next evolution. This hardware is built to last. I especially like the forward thinking with regard to replacement aluminum gaskets vs. new stands or larger replacement parts.
Drummers needing to play both upright (orchestral, symphonic) and seated (kit) positions will appreciate the interchangeability of the cymbal base and snare basket. For those wanting to put various size drums on stands, the range of drum diameters accommodated by the basket is simply wonderful. The ability to mount a snare or other drum vertically and use a pedal with the A&F pedal clamp can only be described as ingenious.
I applaud the creativity and ingenuity involved in the A&F kick-bone clamp and assorted accessories. This design opens up a wide range of percussive possibilities. The A&F cocktail clamp cleverly and quickly allows the creation of a cocktail kit out of any two drums. The A&F hoop-mounted L-clamp is great for that small add-on which can clamp to the hoop.
A&F hardware is built to withstand the test of time. For the vintage hardware collectors out there, I would suggest keeping the boxes. Like Lionel trains, these cool boxes (along with the gear) may be worth a bit of $$$ some day.
Kudos to A&F on their “modern-vintage” hardware. I give them two thumbs-up on this gear. I hear rumors of an A&F hi-hat stand and maybe a kick pedal in future. I can’t wait to try them out!
For more information on A&F Drum Company hardware:
https://www.anfdrumco.com/collections/hardware
Pricing:
Nickel Snare/Tom/Kick Stands from $149.00
Nickel Pedal Mount for Snare Stand from $109.00
Nickel Cymbal Stands from $169.00
Kick-Bone Nickel from $209.00
Nickel Cocktail Basket & Kick Pedal Clamp from $285.00
Nickel Hoop-Mounted L-clamp from $ 34.00
Photos courtesy of A&F Drum Company.