Camco Drums-What you didn't know 🤯 

That is a very cool story! I can’t believe that kit sat unsold for 10 years!! Wow! I’m sure it’s looks and sounds incredible.

Oh man. Sorry to hear that. Honestly I’ve regretted selling every drum I’ve ever sold but yours is a gut punch for sure.

Thanks Simon. The George Way story will easily be its own video. He really got the short end of the stick in the Camco story. Ron Dunnett is the perfect guy to have picked up the George Way brand and im sure those drums are incredible. It would be an interesting video to compare the Camco Oaklawn to the new Geo Way drums. Hmmmm. You gave me an idea! 😁✌️

Thank you so much James! I really appreciate you letting me know that you liked the video. Ronn is a super cool dude for sure. It doesn’t surprise me at all that he met you to personally deliver that kit. If you ever shoot a videos of it, regardless of quality, I’d love to see it. FYI. I met w Ronn recently and we sat down to discuss his Geo Way drums. Stay tuned, as there is more to come here from that meeting. ✌️✌️

For sure! I need more room at my house. I should have been a stamp collector instead. 🤣

Thank you Fred!

That book was excellent. The amount of Reseach he did was off the charts.

Haha. Yeah the Camco inventory is small these days. The natural finish LA Camco is not far from where I live. The only reason I haven’t gone there is because I know that I buy it! 😅. I have no more room!! Thanks for checking out the video. Glad you liked it. I spent a lot of time on it to try and do the brand justice so your comment really means a lot. Thank you

Thank you Sal! I appreciate it.

I use the DW 5000 which is essentially a modern camco. Never played the Tama but it looks identical to the camco. I used to have the Tama iron cobra and that was a great pedal as well.

I love it! What a kit! If you ever post a video of it let me know.

Hi Tony, Joey Cass is in fact listed in the Camco catalogs as the drummer for the Four Seasons. It's fascinating to hear stories from people who had first hand experiences with these folks. Thanks for sharing your personal account.

​@@eddieavakian Joey was always getting calls to go out on the road, but by 1973, he opened a music store in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ. He got me my first full time gig with a band that was playing 6 nights per week in 1975. I owe him a lot, he was a tremendous help to me and a great friend. RIP Joey!

I competed in a drum competition in '74. That year, I selected "Spontanious Percussion" by Nick Ceroli. For solo snare drum. Quite a bitch. Check it out! My instructor has a walnut Camco set.

Thank you so much! I appreciate it. I see that you have some videos as well. I’ll sub and check them out!

Thanks Paul! I was really inspired when o made this one. I appreciate you for taking the time to let me know that you enjoyed it. 🙏

Thank you Terry. Great drums for sure.

@@eddieavakian yes indeed Eddie, very expensive too. At the moment I'm enjoying my 2020 Rogers Covington, I recently gave it an airing at the Brecon Jazz festival here in Wales. Much ❤️ from here and thank you for your amazing work

@@terrydonegan1622 Love the new Roger’s drums. I have two 60s Roger’s kits but those don’t leave the studio. They sound better than kits I’ve ever owned.

Thank you for checking it out!. Yes the Speed King and the Camco pedal often come up together. It’s always a struggle to know what to include and what to cut in these videos. I actually have an original Speed King that I only use when I travel because it’s so small and easy to carry.

Good stuff Brent! This is exactly the kind of information I’m hoping these videos will bring to light. Thanks for dropping that bit of history! 🙏

@@eddieavakian No Problem

Nice Donald! Thank you for added all of this information here in comments for everyone to see. I just listened to Lonely Boy (I haven’t heard it in forever) and that beat is tricky especially for a pop song. I’ll have check out Botts other work. Both you and Earl mentioned him and I don’t know anything about him. Camco drums made it on more records than most people realize. Great drums for sure.

My first pedal was a Ghost pedal. I never really figured out how to adjust that thing. 😂. Since going to the DW5000 pedal, I never think about pedals anymore. I did not know about Lars playing that Camco kit but painting it black? Ouch! I’ll have to find the video.

Amazing Scott!! I’m blown away by your personal experience. What I find so interesting about history is that you can’t appreciate it at the time it’s happening. I’ve looked and it’s not easy to find an original George way kit today. In fact I’ve never found one. Do you have any pictures of it? I’d love to see those! I should have mentioned Eddie Knight in my video. I knew that I’d regret cutting that part out.

@@eddieavakian My dad asked me to “take a ride” with him…which meant riding around picking up insurance premiums (he sold insurance) and when he said “we are taking a short ride to Elkhart” (11 miles from South Bend)…my heart sank as Elkhart at the time was an industry town (musical instruments) and yes, we pulled up to a non-descript brick factory building😡. He said “I’ll be back” which meant I was going to sit in the car until he was done visiting with clients! About 5 minutes later, he comes back and said “I want you to meet somebody”…more groans from me as I dutifully followed him into the building…two doors….and a large room stacked with drum sets up to the ceiling appeared. A rather portly gentleman walks up to me..”Hi Scott, my name is George Way and your dad just bought you a drum set…you can pick out whatever you want…”. OMG…I knew I did not want a lacquer kit…the wall had an assortment of gold, blue, red, silver sparkle finishes (champagne had not appeared yet)…and there was a green sparkle….22” bass, 9 x 13 Tom, 14 x 14 floor Tom and 5 1/2” snare (all aristocrat)… Eddie Knight was my teacher at the time and I am sure Eddie set up the visit with Geo Way…four years later I traded the set for a slingerland blue satin flame finish 18” bass, 2 8x12 toms, 14 x 14 floor Tom and a metal radio king snare…by that time G Way drums became Camco…and Camco became DW and no one remembers G Way drums 🫢. Enjoyed your article a great deal…👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻. BTW…have kicked myself many times for selling that kit for a slingerland…except the chicks loved the blue satin flame finish 😂😂😂

Thanks brother Bruce! Your Camco video was epic.

Great stuff here. I'm old enough to remember seeing Nick Ceroli and his walnut finish Camcos with Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. I was (and still am) a die hard Rogers guy. But when I saw those round turret lugs, man...I thought they looked so cool. So different than Rogers, Ludwig, Slingerland and Gretsch. Fast forward tow: I purchased a mint condition maple DW kit from Fork's Drum Closet about 18 yr ago (20/14/12, dated 1999, stamped on the inside of the shells, which are the the thin 3-ply, with the sharp bearing edges. Amazing tone.All maple, maple "satin" finish. Only my two mid 60s Rogers kits (Red Onyx & Blue Onyx wrap) sound as good as the DW drums. I am so blessed & lucky to own these great American drums.. Still hoping to some day to own a vintage Camco kit. The tone is worth the sky high prices these drums fetch nowadays. Camcos are special; rare collectible and playable works of art (IMHO).

@@roadrocket7I’m actually a Rogers guy myself but I love Camco drums and they have an interesting history. Thanks for your input! FYI my favorite kit is my early 60s blue sparkle holiday kit. 2nd fav is my late 60s champagne sparkle kit. I did a video on both of these kits.

Nice. I’d love to find that video. I did not come across it in my research for this video.

Fantastic 😍

The Geo Way kits are amazing drums. And they’re reasonably priced. I just posted an interview with Ronn Dunnett where he goes over how he came to make those drums. I think you’d like that video

thank you so much! I appreciate it! Thanks for watching it.

Thanks Earl. Fyi in my research I found your video on the drum pedal. That was great info! Thanks for the tip on Botts! Camco could have done a better job at using endorsements. I love love their drums tho.

@@eddieavakian thanks Eddie for mentioning that one! Yea, great drums I’ve never played but always want to play! Great info my friend! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🎄🎄🎄🎄

Thank you Peter. I appreciate you watching it and taking the time to let me know that you enjoyed it.

Thank you Mike. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know Means a lot! ✌️

Thank you Stephen!

Thanks man! I appreciate it. I have not done a Leedy or Paiste one yet.I did get into some Ludwig and Ludwig stuff in my Ludwig-Sonor connection video. Some interesting history there between Sonor and Ludwig in that one. I appreciate you reaching out!

@@eddieavakian I love your deep dives. Paiste is an interesting one from Estonia to Switzerland. I love this stuff as much as you. Even the mentioned of swivomatic and how guys like banjo would use that on Ludwig’s. I hope more comments get you more views. Thanks man.

@@kkupsky6321 Paiste sounds like an interesting one! pretty sure comments and conversation activity helps the algorithm but not really sure how it works.

Thank you Daniel. I know of an LA Camco for sale where I live in Los Angeles. It’s on Reverb and it’s a natural maple finish. The price is pretty high tho, but that’s no surprise. Good luck on your search and if you ever post a video of those magnificent drums, please hit me up. I’d love to hear them.

A video is actually currently in the making ! I'll hit you up when it's online.@@eddieavakian

May I ask what the seller wants for the 6,5, which is currently on Reverb ? Is it an 8 - or a 10 lugger ?@@eddieavakian

@@danielschwarz5335 the listing is for a complete LA kit, minus the snare drum. It’s listed for $4900 US. Natural maple finish. It’s been listed for a while and the price has come down from the original asking price.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BqeqICw5crU.html@@eddieavakian

Another history fact that I didn’t know. Good stuff! I live down the street from the Lincoln Blvd location.

Thank you! I appreciate it!

Shalom?!!

Nice. You looking for a camco kit? Not sure if that’s where I saw it but it’s possible.

Absolutely. 👍. I’ll be working on a George Way video and Ronn will be a big part of it. Stay tuned!

Sweet!

Great info John! It sounds like they initially bought the same shell from Keller for their first Camcos or they did actually get some shell inventory in the deal. Very interesting info. Congrats on your collection. You hardly ever see the USA made Hoshino Camcos out there.

@eddieavakian they aren't easy to find. The Renaissance series is even harder. I'm in the process of buying the first production kit, which was number 3 made. 2) 26" ,12,13,14,15,16,18 plus a 22" ! It's a rering kit that was given to a local Philly player to get feed back on the kits. Number 1 and 2 kits were given to the factory manager ( he still has it) and another employee. There were only two ppl building these drums. I've been a Tama collector since 1985 but once I got my first Hoshino Camco, I've been hooked!! I like your channel. Keep it up and keep it interesting. 💯

Thanks Brother. This one took some time to get done but it came together.

@@eddieavakian came together beautifully.

Hello! Aside from the snare concern, how do you like the Camco kit? For your question I’d email Bruce at budsmusic@hotmail.com. He’s the guy at the end of my video that does restorations and has a large Camco snare collection. Most are Oaklawn but I’m sure he knows the LA snare drums as well. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.

Yes, he has a LA Camco snare similar to mine. Everybody who hears my drums are amazed at the volume and sustain generated by such small drums (12"dia. x 7" tom, 14"dia. x 9" tom 14"dia. x 5" snare, 20"dia. x14" bass) They sort of snigger at 'em beacuse my name is Cam also and the drum set is so small!!!! They soon stop laughing when they hear that Camco sound; especially the bass.@@eddieavakian

Interesting about the bearing edges on the snare side . I had a ' Stradivarius ' snare drum , which turned out to be made by Drouyn in the late 50s ( it still had a vellum head when I got it ) an Australian drum company based in Brisbane . It had flats cut into the bearing edge in just this manner .

Thanks! Do you mean editing software? I use Final Cut to edit my vids

The Hoshino USA made kits? I’ve never seen one for sale. I’m curious how many were actually made. It’s not many for sure.

Thanks Richard! I appreciate it!

Personally I do like them, not my favs tho, but I think that they were so different at the time that it made the drums recognizable. I prefer the look of the old Rogers bead and butter and slingerland radio king beavertail lugs

@@eddieavakian I love the older vintage lugs especially Ludwig’s. The New British Drum Co lugs are gorgeous though and take some of their design from Ludwig.

The camco lugs are pretty ugly to me always thought they looked cheap and never got why DW wanted this look for their drums

I get it. The story is heartbreaking. It’s hard to feel good about it when you know how it all went down. But thanks to George they were incredible drums.

I did not know this. Are you sure? I did an interview with Ronn Dunnett (it’s my latest video) and he discussed the history of the lugs as well as other George Way inventions. Fascinating interview

@@eddieavakian : check out the “orange covered LEEDY catalog” from 1951 or 1952 I think and you’ll see the turret bracket shell mount cymbal holder. It’s a tiny little picture you’re blinking you won’t see it but it’s in there. I guess it was designed by GEORGE Way as a cymbal holder to be mounted on the bass drum shell! I collect catalogs and I happen to spell bistro, when they’re showing the original lugs and their evolution. I think there’s a quick picture of the L arm bass drum shell mounted turret bracket.

@@eddieavakian : yes, I agree!

@@nealsausen4651 very interesting. I’ll have to track that catalog down and check it out. Thanks for pointing this out!