Fibes Drums

Fibes Drum Company was originally founded in 1966 by Bob Grauso, a professional drummer, and John Morena, a specialist in composite materials, and also a drummer. They came up with the name by combining the core sound of a drum—vibes, short for vibrations, and fiberglass, the material used in the original drum shells.

Fibes quickly became one of the foremost American manufacturers of professional quality percussion instruments. Eventually, Bob and John decided to sell the company to the C.F. Martin Organisation, makers of Martin Guitars. The company thrived for about 10 years, but because Martin's interest in drum manufacturing was a low priority, the company did not keep up with changes in the market place.

With the onslaught of foreign competition, Martin sold the fixtures, machinery, inventory, and equipment to Jim Corder who renamed the business Corder Drums. The Fibes trademark was sold to another party, who had a business agreement with Martin to distribute Fibes drumsticks.

Corder sold the company in 1990 to Sammy Darwin, a radio programming consultant, who operated the company under the name Darwin until early 1994.

Tommy Robertson learned of the status of Darwin Drums, and began negotiations to purchase the factory from Darwin. After eight months, an agreement was made. In December 1994 the factory was purchased and moved into a newly-designed facility in Austin, Texas. The Fibes trademark was also purchased in December, thus reuniting the original name and product. The market response to the reborn company has been extremely positive worldwide.

Recently Fibes has stopped production of drums. Since then there have been numerous rumors about Tommy Robertson having plans to start the manufacturing of Fibes drums again. But as of 28 July 2011 there have been no official statements about this.