It’s a new era for an iconic drum at the University of Texas. Big Bertha turned 100 years old and was just retired at halftime at the UT versus Iowa State football game. She will sit in the Frank Denius University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame in the stadium. As fans said goodbye to the old Big Bertha, Big Bertha II was revealed.
Bertha II was made in Austin, by hand, by a professional drummer named Ramy Antoun and his wife Tiffany. They founded A & F Drum Company.
They worked on Big Bertha II for more than a year to make sure there was no doubt that it would rival all other drums.
“It is the biggest bass drum in the world,” Ramy said. “It’s about a foot and a half bigger than original Bertha so that’s big. It’s a big deal. The drum sits at about 114 inches from edge to edge. It’s 54 inches wide. On the trailer it sits just about 11 feet.”
Ramy and his wife researched metals, materials and old school manufacturing techniques.
“We really needed to get it right,” Tiffany Antoun said. “We know everything in Texas is bigger. So, when we got down to it, we had to figure out how do we make the biggest drum not only in Texas but the world. And that’s what we set out to do.”
5 дек 2022
