Count the plies on the other side of the re-ring and deduct it from the total !i The ring is not recessed into the shell !i

Kinda like the Teardrops, Champions and Phonics,...If they were`nt in the USA, they didn`t exist !i All of those can compete with Camco !i

There is some truth to that, however, at least in my circles at that time, Sonor was regarded as extremely nice and extremely expensive drums that were pretty much unattainable due to the cost. I certainly had a much higher regard for Sonor than I did Camco though I never had an opportunity to see or play either. Some of that esteem was associated with their talent roster and some was probably a prejudicial perception of German engineering.

George Way started in '57 by George Way. He was ousted by John Rochon in late '61. John Rochon sold the company to Kustom in '71 who in turn sold the company to Beckman in '73.

So the "company" was ran by three different companies from 1957-'71 followed by a fourth in 1973. After that the name was separated from the design. Tama owns the name and DW owns the design (tooling, lugs, etc.).

Ok thanks guys. They just couldn't get off the floor with the marketing. Shame I played a set once and they were outstanding!

Well a lot of that depends on where you were living / growing up at the time. For the most part they were quite prevalent in the Chicago area due to the location of the factory. Most of the larger mid-west areas most likely saw their share of Camco drums, not a lot mind you, but at least a presence. As far as their roster goes Sonny Greer was a George Way endorser and the one that got me excited about Camco was Nick Ceroli of Herb Albert & Tijuana Brass.

When Camco moved to LA that area became the hot spot for Camco especially in the studio scene with guys like Jeff Porcaro using Camco.

Growing up in northern California I saw mostly Rogers & Ludwig with a very small presence of Gretsch. Slingerlands were non-existent to me but I was well aware of them because of the mags and Gene Krupa. Later it was Tama and Yamaha folowed by Pearl. Never saw any Premiers. One store near me carried Sonors. I drooled over them but those price tags, damn!!!

My high school had a set of LA Camcos, a 22/12/13/16 in walnut. I was a lucky kid for sure!

Same here, except there were Slingerlands in Fresno. Gretsch was heard of, but a very small presence. My High School had both Slingerland and Ludwig drums, with the Jr. High having the High School cast offs for the most part.

Nobody in my circle had ever heard of Camco's at that time, until the LA move. The first time I ran into them was at a gig we did at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk / Ballroom. I met a drummer from a Bay Area band that would be playing earlier than us, and we began yakking drums. He had an Oaklawn kit, having grown up in Illinois, and brought it with him when he moved. I was playing Slingerland at the time, we got kinda chummy (I bought him a beer) and he invited me to use his kit, to try it out.

WOW! Even the rhythm guitar player noticed (and historically, guitar players really don't ever notice what your drums sound like). :)

That was in 1972, and they were in the process of being sold and moved to LA, as I found since I began looking into them. They still weren't popular on the West coast for another couple years. And only then in the SoCal area, really. Someone once told me they were the best kept secret in percussion, and they were right.

After that, got married, kids, acted normal for a bit. I finally picked up an LA Camco kit in the mid 80's.

When I play that kit, it still wows me, and the LA kits are the least of the bunch. Great, poorly marketed, insanely stupidly managed, drums.

> Great, poorly marketed, insanely stupidly managed, drums.

That's the response everybody should give when the question comes up about why Camco's are not more popular/well-known.

They are the greatest sounding drums on the planet, that alone should have been enough to make them number 1 anywhere there are drummers playing drums. Blows my mind how many drummers are not at all familiar with them. I only discovered Camco's late in the game. Otherwise, I would have been playing Camco's from day one.

John

Great tip Dolfan and thanks for those great pictures Sling.

I did remove one of the tom-mounts and they're indeed 6/6ply.

By the way,... that replica 7X10" is also on its way across the pond.

The shipment also includes the DW STM mounts,... can't wait.

Yesterday I picked up a 16" floor tom for a few Euro's. Clearly a re-wrapped MIJ shell but it has 16 shiny retro-fitted turret lugs.

I'm considering a 14"X14 replica but I'd probably not go as far by putting a cloud badge on it though.

I have too much love and respect for GW and the original I guess.

I am sure they will sound a bit better with played in and aged maple, but will never compare to the LA era Camcos. The Camcos all had shells that were 5/16" thick regardless of the make up or the number of plys. Whereas the Collectors series maple shells are quite a bit thinner than that and don't have labor intensive bearing edges that were hand sanded, polished, and sealed.