The brief and exciting story of C&C Custom Drums starts in Arkansas where a young Bill Cardwell spent all summer picking cotton to make enough money to buy a Ludwig Acrolite snare drum after seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Thus began a passionate affair with the classic drums of Ludwig, Slingerland, Camco, Rogers, and Gretsch. A hobby, restoring vintage drums suddenly became an interest in building drums in 1989 thanks to a fairly auspicious request.

"When Carl Palmer asks you if you can build a him a drum set with gold plated hardware, you say yes sir, Mr. Palmer!" says Mr. Cardwell of how he came to start out in the custom drum business. "I was able to incorporate all of the hands on experience with vintage drums to create a new maple kit with a classic look and sound."

It was not long before other drummers began asking about having kits built, and one such drummer was Ryan Pope of the Get Up Kids. Ryan was looking for things that were not options from other drum companies. "Ryan knew what he wanted, how he wanted it, and why." Says Cardwell of the ambitious young musician. "We were able to work with him and get him into the kit he was looking for. In the process a friendship was formed, and that is generally how we like to do things."