Are Camco's overpriced? Definitely not... are they expensive? You bet. It's very simple, it's supply and demand. If someone is willing to pay the prices asked for them, then they are not overpriced. It's as simple as that.
I picked up my Camco's back in '87... ancient history to some of you, recent times for many of us. The kit was sort of complete, it was missing the front side bass drum lugs and the ever elusive lug risers used on the bass drum. I got lucky, even though I thought I had overpaid at the time; $300.00. I had heard of them, via the Dennis Wilson 'Beach Boys' thing, and had also heard that they were excellent drums, but had never played Camco's.
As far as the lugs being fragile, that's news to me. I've tuned these drums up every which way you can imagine and never had a problem. My biggest beef with Camco was their bass drum tom mounts. Those welds do crack and break. I have two sets of the posts, but have never used them except for the pix you can see on my webpage.
Back then, I asked around about Camco parts at various music stores and found a pile of them, including the ever elusive bass drum lug risers at a tiny music store that had carried the drums, brand new in the boxes... I got about fifty pounds of parts, lugs mostly, but others as well, for $40.00.
Would I pay what folks are asking nowadays? Probably not. While I do appreciate good drums, and do gig the kit from time to time, I have other kits that do just fine for the bar bands I play with.
Oh yeah, one other thing... while DW uses the old GW / Camco lug design, they are not Camco's... not even close.
If I was doing loads of recordings, or session work, I'd own vintage Camco's in every conceivable size, and use them exclusively.
Why?
All you have to do is listen...
