Nick Ceroli also played with Dudley Moore's jazz trio. There was a TV special years ago showing Ceroli playing his burgundy sparkle Camco jazz kit with Dudley Moore, the actor on piano.

Merel Bregante of Loggins and Messina played a natural maple Camco set. Watch their 1973 appearance on Midnight Special... he's got some monster sized concert toms for rack toms. They appear to be at least 15 inchers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=pdtzuY1z5RI&feature=related

A few more names of guy's who played camco drums--joe dukes with jack mcduff--norm jeffries who was the house drummer of the hollywood palace--mel brown with the temptations---tony dee with "NTH''--kalil madi with big tiny little----jimmy smith with erroll garner--- and on and on-- all of these drummers are from the 60s..Mikey

Glad to see all of the Camco drummers. I've wanted a Camco set forever. I finally managed to piece together a set over the past year.Winning shells and hardware on ebay. Not the path I would have chosen ,but giving the limited funds I had it was the only way I could purchase my dream set. Still trying to decide whether to finish them in a stain or cover them.I've seen so many sets on the site that are beautiful in either. I LOVE these drums. I also have some other vintage drums but none are complete sets. Ludwig toms with no bass, Roundbadge Gretsch toms , snare no bass. ( what's up with the bass drums ) Not really what you would consider vintage, but I also have a Star Series Noble & Cooley kit ( with bass ) these were the one ply kits they made with what other companies are calling the short stack sizes.Also some Rogers, but all from different periods in time. Heard my first set of Camcos in 1980's. Was hooked from that moment. There is a member here asking about DW being similar to Camco's . I'm not sure but I really liked the first DW's when they came out. I've got one of their first catalogs.

Smart move on joining the Camco club!

Those others you have are sweet also. Just keep looking, you'll find the missing ones.

I've been a Camco nut for years and I think it comes from when I was in high school. They had a 22/12/13/16 in walnut. This was 1980-83. I've had quite a few Camco drums come my WAY and I currently own 2 kits and 6 snare drums.

Here is my favorite, an early 1960's Oaklawn Nick Ciroli Outfit with a rare 12x20 bass drum! I'm still looking for a matching snare but the 5x14 burgundy sparkle Tuxedo Studio Model does just fine for now.

[IMG]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x246/dolfan54/Camco%20Oaklawn/IMG_0603-1.jpg[/IMG]

This kit is one of the best sounding kits I've ever owned. A 24/14/18 Chanute in walnut from 1971-73.

[IMG]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x246/dolfan54/Camco%20Oaklawn/Camco%20Chanute/P1010374.jpg[/IMG]

These days I mostly collect George Way drums that were made from 1957-1961.

[IMG]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x246/dolfan54/George%20Way/IMG_0767.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x246/dolfan54/George%20Way/P1010335.jpg[/IMG]

Here's the skinny on shell construction.

George Way 1957-1960 - 3 ply Jasper shells

George Way 1961 - 4 ply Jasper shells

Camco Oaklawn 1961-mid-60's - 4 ply Jasper shells

Camco Oaklawn mid-60's - 1971 - 6 ply Jasper shells

Camco Chanute 1971-1973 - 6 ply Jasper shells

Camco L.A. 1973-1978 - 6ply Keller shells

Camco drums from the L.A. era sound the most like DW as DW initially used Keller shells. They also sound most like Rogers drums as well.

I prefer the 4 ply Jasper shells and early Camco drums have beautiful COB hoops, 2 reasons early Oaklawns are sought out more than the other eras.

But I prefer a 3 ply Jasper George Way drum over any Camco, but that's another story!

DolFan54, What a beautiful collection of Camcos. And the George Way snares, I'm still drooling. I'm not sure of the era of my Camcos ( the ones I stated above that I won on ebay, shells , parts. etc )The bass drum has white paint on the inside.So does the 12 tom. The 14 floor tom was a sort of dark maple color on the inside and the shell seems to be slightly undersized.But they sound wonderful together. One day hope to have a snare. One unexpected surprise in the past month. I gave up a chrome Gretsch snare ( probably made sometime in the 2000's ) and got a 16" Red Sparkle George Way tom in return. Christmas came twice this year. Now I'm gonna be on search for more. Does this sickness ever end? HOPE NOT!!!!

If you can post pics I can give you a ball park of the eras from which your drums came from. I basically need to see the badge and the holes for the tone control in relation to the badge and also the tom mount holes and where they are located on the shell. White paint indicates either Oaklawn or Chanute and the clear interior could be from any of the 3 eras but your mention of it being darker leans towards Chanute.

DolFan54, Unable to post pictures at this time but I can supply you with a bit more info. The tom didn't have the regular camco tom mounts but the diamond plate mount. I thinking this was original since there were no holds un der it. The bass drum came drilled for rail mount .Centered between the lugs at top of shell instead of slightly sloping on the left hand side of shell. I have the rail mount ( complete ) It's also drilled for cymbal L-arm bracket which another member just offered me. Strange thing, about seven years ago I bought a L-arm for a Gretsch kit I was playing.Got rid of the Gretsch but kept the arm. Pulled it out a couple of months ago and what of all things is engraved on it " CAMCO" I guess it pays to hold on to some things even if you're not using them at that time.

Well as long as we're doing pictures...

1973 LA kit. No badges, ever. I've read that a number of drums came out of the factory in LA unbadged. Wished it did have, but... I have never purchased a snare for it.