Thanks Jolo but the L.A. era set in pic 2 is now in London and belongs to Jeramy Stacey. The L.A. era Keller shells in the background are all orphins that I will turn into complete sets in time. The rest of The Jasper shells are getting recovered but as for these, the Walnut finishes are still in great shape so they will stay walnut. Even though the Walnut finish is the most common and isn't anything to get excited over, I really like it. I'am still missing the 14x14,16x18" and a 5x14" Aristocrat in Walnut but one day hopefully... When it comes to the sound, (IMHO) I like the 6ply Jasper shells for Jazz and the L.A. era Keller 6ply shells for Rock and Heavy Blues. As for quality of the shells? The L.A. era Keller shells with the custom Camco bearing edges are by far the best I have ever seen. They even went so far as to thread the holes in the shells that the lug screws pass through from 75 to 77! Is that attention to detail or what? And "Blueprints" to the shells and bearing edges? (Tama purchased and owns the rights to them). They also don't sound like any other drums, Roger's 5/5ply sound like DWs or vice versa... And to me, there is nothing that even comes close to comparing. I prefer the 6ply Jasper and 6ply Keller era's, but that's just my opinion.

Comparison between the two? I agree with DolFan on the Jasper shells sounding Warm and Resonant...Also they are very easy to tune. The L.A. Keller shells sound very modern and focused. To me I guess you could describe the Keller shells as being gymnastic...They will stay in tune from extremely high all the way down to just past the wrinkles disappearing...Like tympani toms, you can even tune them to a specific note if the edges are 100% true. Played with a heavy hand they do sound a bit dry with a huge amount of projection. The bearing edges almost seem to be designed for projection and clarity. IMHO the only drums that could and will out project them would be the 70s Ludwig Marine Grade Stainless Steel drums( See Stainless Steel post). To me, the Jasper shells are very blending whereas the Keller are more of a cut through the mix type toms.

Does anyone know of any Walnut Stain finish Camco kits for sale?

An Oaklawn era walnut stain Camco kit?

SOLD, SOLD, SOLD! Ryan, a gigantic thank you for the drums, and I am really looking forward to your refinishing expertise.

Now Im killing myself over that 24" I didnt buy!....Eye Ball

I'll post pictures in the AM. I tried to get my email address to Dave the seller of the 24" Oaklawn set today on ebay with no luck. Man that is one beautiful snare drum as well. He said he has had the kit for 40+ years and it looks like he has taken absolute stellar care of it. The bass drum did not come with re-rings and that makes 3 now that we know of for sure.

Now we have seen 3, 24" bass drums all from the late Oaklawn era without re-rings. The last of which was ordered by a musician/drummer from ill-Wind ( ill-wind.com ) That ordered his kit in 1970 when laying down the tracks for their album. The studio he was recording in had a Camco kit all mic'd up and when he heard it, he had to have one. He has since decided not to sell it. I am hoping he will join the forum and post pictures of it, it literally still looks new! The configuration he bought was 14x24,9x13,14x14,& 16x16 with a matching 6.5x14" model #452-L snare drum in Walnut Stain.

I never stayed with the end of this thread. As stated I never saw one, I never said they never made one. I was still under the impression in the last thread that there was only one example. 3 definitely makes it something.

The one thing that I find odd is that it's only 24" bass drums. As Slingy said at the end of the last post which shed a bit more light on these odd shells, is that they are all from the end of the Oaklawn era and probably were a prototype in hopes of switching to a non-ring shell. This also puts the oval badge timeline in question again! Were they using both badges at the end of the era? I knew of a Kustom employee that was ordered to throw aWAY boxes of oval badges so I know they were used near the end. So weird!