Hi. New to forum. My main kit is a maple LA camco from what I think is the early 70's. One thing I can say is that the bearing edges are razor thin. The rack toms have a nice tone and the floor tom is a cannon. The kick with an emad is explosive. I don't use the muffles but they are the best engineered of any vintage drum I've seen. The only thing I don't like about them is the tom mount arms are difficult to adjust. I just use snare stands. The snare is not very deep and I have just kept it in storage for the last 15 years.

Enjoy it. You will be able to make it sound good and it is very collectable.

66Merc, I believe snare stands create a better sound. BTW, What's the size of your snare ? Why have you not used it ? Is it metal ?

As far as I know Elvin's kit was the only Tama/Camco drums to have winged badges.

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I have a set of Tama drums with the Tama/Camco lugs on it.Its red stain shells inside and out.They seem to be 6 ply with out rings.But the set i have the badge's same "RoyalStar" on them.Any guess on these?...Mikey

Mikey, Possibly a release of Tama's line of "Royal Star" drums just after they purchased the rights. The Tama/Camco lugs with the extension were only made for 2 years. Your kit could be a very early release of the high-end "Royal Star" line. The Tama/Camco "made in usa" badge has the same lugs and Keller six ply shells as your Royal Star.

-kellyj

TAMA/Camco Renaissance line

DolFan 54 says,

"It is very difficult to distinguish maple from birch as the differences are very subtle. The biggest difference although still subtle is the grain pattern. The tom in this pic has a grain pattern typical of birch." - DolFan 54

DolFan, I am ready to eat humble pie.

In the interest of truth over ego and bull****, I concede to your knowledge of LA Camco. I basically insisted that my Tama/Camco "Renaissance" shells were maple. After researching Tama's late 70's catalog pages and info, I realized that Tama used six ply birch shells on their "SuperStar" series. Were these shells imported from PA to improve quality?

Upon close examination of my Camco kit and a comparison with my Pacific Keller maple shell, you can see the suttle differences in grain, very slight but they are there.

Truth is more important than ego and pride so, thanks for your knowledge, research and pics of your collection!

-kellyj Toilet

So you are saying that the shells i have are maple with out rings? If its ok i will email you some photos of the 12" tom for you to see..Maybe post them here also for me..Its one of these set's i just don't know about...I paid 80.00 for the 12,14,16,22 about 4 years ago.....Mikey

Mikey, You paid $80.00? Nice score!

Please e-mail the pics. [email][email protected][/email] and I will post them.

The Made In USA badge on Tama/Camco drums is a bit misleading. The PA building was a place where the drums could be assembled, not necessarily where any parts were made. The 6 ply birch shells came from Japan.

Basically when Beckman sold Camco, DW got the LA drum shop with the remaining shells, hardware and all the tools and dies to build Camco drums w/o the Camco name. Hoshino (Tama) got the name and the PA distribution warehouse. They both share the rights to the 5000 pedal which ironically they both changed it to a chain driven pedal instead of a strap like the original Camco pedal has.

Apparently there were some left over maple shells at the PA building that Tama decided to use up. After that they switched to birch that came from Japan as it was cheaper than maple. The confusion really came in the WAY of the Tama catalog. Their natural finish on Superstar drums was called Super Maple but the shell itself was birch.