2023 A&F Featherweight

A&F FEATHERWEIGHT SERIES

DRUMS:
22” x 14" Featherweight Bass Drum #15466
16” x 14" Featherweight Floor Tom #15467
12” x 8" Featherweight Tom Tom #15468

SNARE
14” x 5.5" Featherweight Snare Drum #15469

CYMBALS:
26” Masterwork Prototype Swish China Pang 2617g
23” Bosphorus Lyric Ari Hoenig Ride Crash 2320g
15” Avedis Zildjian 1950’s Hi-Hat Cymbals “small stamp” Light T901g & B931g

HARDWARE:
TBC

Acquired March 1st, 2026.

BACKGROUND:
On November 18th, 2022 Ramy Antoun formally launched the latest innovation from the A&F Drum Co, The Featherweight Series.

Quite likely to be the lightest standard size series of drums ever made, with Snares and Rack Toms weighing 3.6-4.5lbs, Floor Toms 7-8.5 lbs and the bass drums 10-14lbs!

The drums came about via a commission to build the ‘new’ Big Bertha for the University of Texas in Austin. A massive 9 feet 6 inches x 55 inches, not only does it provide the beat that serves as the rally cry to the football fans of the Texas Longhorns, it is also the world’s biggest bass drum!

The Featherweight drums were born from this project with the drums made from A&F’s proprietary aluminium shells, hoops*, lugs and hardware, and left with a natural ‘Mother Nature’ patina which happens to match the team colours of the Longhorns! *The bass drum features Whisky Maple Hoops.

A&F hand cut, roll, weld, and sand the shells and hoops, then expedite the aging process with the company’s proprietary patina method.

Bearing edges are hand cut prior to adding their patented aluminium centre-mounted lugs and hardware.

This new series of drum immediately caught my attention. Firstly, the tone was literally music to my ears, but the weight (or lack of!) instantly had my attention as I was just 11 months of from major spinal and back surgery.

With the warnings from the surgeon still ringing in my ears about my future limited lifting abilities, the timing of the announcement was perfect to help me resurrect any possibility of playing the drums away from my studio.

Ramy and I had already been talking back and forth, and he kindly invited me to visit several A&F locations just 10 days after the launch of the Featherweight series.

After a wonderful, guided tour of the A&F factory and meeting the team, we moved on to Ramy’s home where he kindly showed me some of the first A&F drums made, talked about vintage drums, while he also very kindly allowed me to play his personal A&F set which was a huge thrill.



From there, I headed to the A&F showroom in downtown Austin where I met with Chris Mead who kindly gave me the run of all the sets there.

Due to my back surgery, it had been a long time since I’d sat at a set of drums for any period, so I proceed with extreme caution and a heap of embarrassment at my poor standard of playing these beautiful kits.

Chris was extremely gracious and I certainly didn’t abuse my time, choosing to play just two sets.

The first was a stunning nickel over brass that deserved a place in a world class art gallery, while I didn’t play the fabulous Ankh series (a collaboration between the A&F Drum Co. and Sabian) and a beautiful Royals raw brass set.

My time was naturally focused on the Featherweight series set, the actual one used in the company launch videos, 24/16/12/14.

Set up with it were a raw brass Gong snare and a 13” x 3” Rude Boy (which was immediately added to my wish list!) but it was all about the Featherweight - it didn’t disappoint!

Some A&F sets do sit more comfortably at a lower tuning (my Single Tension Raw Brass set being one), but this Featherweight set tuned super high, medium, and low, retaining great resonance through each tuning.

I knew as I sat there and played that I’d be buying a set, however, there were a lot of moving parts ahead for me with touring, so it took all my will power not to place the order there and then.

However, I did leave A&F that day with a beautiful Jonesy Brown-Diamond Tufted Brown Italian Saddle Leather (inspired by the old Harley Indian motorcycle seat)!
Hands down the most comfortable drum throne I have been fortune to own.

In the end, the touring took over my life for the next three and a half years, so many plans I had in my personal world all went on hold.

While out on the road, I did secure the following A&F snares to add to my collection.

14" x 6.5" Raw Brass Snare
12" x 3" Rude Boy Custom Untreated Matte Brass Finish Snare – A one off that I got directly from Ramy.
10” x 3” Rude Boy Brass Snare


These compliment the two snares I already owned; the 14" x 4" Dual Tension Mahogany Club 10 lug that came with my Single Tension Raw Brass set, and my original A&F purchase, a 6" x 4" Raw Steel Micro with Internal Snares, Brass Hoops.

In 2026, I finally stepped away from the road to focus on my own life again, which has allowed me to reconnect with my long-standing passion for collecting and playing drums.

During 2025, I added two remarkable 1940s Slingerland kits to my collection, including a stunning 1942 ‘Rolling Bomber’ set that remarkably carries my own initials which were hand-painted on the bass drum in 1942!

The second was a historic set from the legendary Frank's Drum Shop and that addition replaced a very similar set that I had previously sold to Tom Hanks after it appeared in the TV series Masters of the Air.

A year later, I recently added another classic: a 1964 Slingerland Stage Band kit in the sizes I had long been searching for.

However, the one piece that I was still missing from my collection—the remarkable Featherweight series from A&F Drum Co.

If I was ever going to return to playing live again, that gap needed to be filled.

I’m delighted that finally, that gap has been filled.

Just two days after purchase, I took delivery of a four-piece A&F Featherweight set purchased from Mark's Drum Shop with the help of the owner Mark Smith.

To complement the kit, I wanted something sonically distinctive in the cymbal department.

After years searching for the right ultra-thin, dark and warm swish sound, I finally found it through Hazelshould Drums and Cymbals—a remarkable 26″ hand-hammered prototype from Masterwork Cymbals.

Its dark, complex voice and responsiveness immediately stood out.

Soon after, I added a beautifully thin 23″ ride-crash from Bosphorus Cymbals, whose warm tone perfectly complements the Masterwork piece.

Together with a pair of vintage 1950s Avedis Zildjian “small stamp” hi-hats, the result is an exceptionally warm and expressive setup.

This Featherweight kit will become my primary live set, while my custom A&F brass single-tension kit remains my personal “signature” instrument—the one that truly does everything I need to express myself fully at a drum set, and that I feel is an extension of my own personality.

For all that, the A&F Featherweight offers me something different….