I've had LA and Oaklawn 24"s and loved them both. Though my days of scaring the rest of the band with a large bass drum are (probably) behind me, I still remember these fondly.

Interesting talk on the lacquers/colours.

In your collective experience was the colour on the shell or in the lacquer?

I've had a badly damaged black lacquer and Alice Cooper white drums where there's clearly no stain on the shell and I've also seen (at least I think I've seen) some of the darker wood lacquers where it also seems to be in the lacquer and that looks to be the case with Stef's kit here too.

But then my main kit seems to have been stained (see pic of dismantled 14" below) and the stain was under the badge (which hadn't been removed) which suggests they sometimes stained the shells as well. Any ideas on when they did or didn't or if it was just on certain finishes to get the depth of finish (or somethng)?

Here’s a close up of the damaged finish.

To me it looks like that from the moment the lacquer/stain chips off, pretty much all the color is gone too.

Here’s another shot with a George Way 6-lugger in the same finish.

I was quite surprised to find out how close the match is.

I’m really starting to like them and I’m almost certain to keep the finish on these Camcos the way they are.

Just clean them up and make sure that construction-wise they’re OK.

They do show a lot of road wear but it does add mojo to them.

What do you guys think ?

Stedi, congratulations on your new find. It will be fun to watch the progress. I would love to get my hands on a kit just like that, one in need of a new finish. I wonder if I will ever get hold of a Camco kit.

I guess I would clean them up for now and play them. Re-finishing can come anytime and once that's done you have lost the originality of them forever.

There's a NOS Kit in that Walnut Fisnish in my Town

That’s a Hoshino/Camco set.

I emailed them (in German) but never got a reply.

Do you happen to know what’s the asking price ?

Thanks for the suggestions Roger and JC.

Indeed re-finishing can be done any time.

Wow, that is hard to believe!

Another quick question for you, Stef. We're these (Chanute badge) drums imported through the Belgian/European agent or did your session player guy bring them in from the US himself?

I'd always heard that Camco didn't do any export until the Los Angeles era and I'm curious to have that confirmed. Certainly I've never seen anything in Australia pre-LA unless someone (like me) personally imported them.