Does this mean maybe I wasn't such an idiot after all? :)

Well we'll see if Jeff gets em, and then it's up to him...I for one have faith.

Mitch

I agree that selling them to someone who will do a loving restoration seems the best option. Personally not a fan of single headed drums but they are unique and since the kit was original that way I can't see the point in making them double headed. If someone wants double headed camco they should wait it out to get one.

Also have never heard or experienced any of the issues of shells going out of round or deteriorating the way slingalud is describing. I'm skeptical.

Concert toms are always far less desirable than double-headed toms. That's for a very good reason; they don't sound good comparatively. Doubly true with kick drums. So I don't think keeping these original in that regard will really pan out for a seller anyway. Besides, if you leave this kit truly original, then you don't get to refinish it, and it remains looking awful.

The more time I spend here, the more I'm convinced that this place is mostly populated by dogmatic drum hoarders. Hoarders who would rather all vintage drum kits be painstakingly restored (at often immense cost) and then sit in storage forever with their other 49 kits, than ever see the light of day again, and get gigged with, and risk sun damage, and get thrown into and out of cars and cases, and need to have things like resonant heads and functional hardware in order to be actually useful.

I know, shots fired. It bothers me sometimes. Drums were all originally created to be played. Very few of them will ever be museum pieces, but most of them can be made useful for making music. It's totally possible in plenty of cases to walk the line between originality and functionality without ruining beautiful old drums.

While I truly dig your philosophy on the vintage kits themselves [because its exactly mine on every point], no way this forum is mostly hoarders. Even the purist collectors generally aren't nasty about it. A bit stern sometimes maybe...

However I think you have to take into account that thing that sometimes happens when you start typing on the internet - the day's frustrations can come out...I dunno there's just something about it.

Mitch

This kit is truly a one of a kind set. I've been in contact with lots of guys that have been into Camco Drums for years 'n years and they've never seen a set like this,... It was obviously intended as a single headed set so why not keep it that way? More pictures were shared on "the other place" and one bass drum, floor tom and at least one tom won't allow a second row of lugs without drilling extra holes for the brackets.

Redo the walnut stain but keep it single-headed I would say,...

It's possible that by "proper steward", oldjunkman means someone who will do just what you say. My hope is that we all get to find out. :)

Mitch

I'd say as far as sound, it's really just taste concerning concert toms. I'm sure Bermuda would agree that the "barking" of melodic toms has its place in vintage drum sounds. Just as the "way too tight" tuning the bebop and jazz players use. Or the endless decay on new drums. It's all personal taste. I like lower tunings, but that doesn't mean I'm going to recut the bearing edges on my Ludwig to a razor sharp 45 degrees.

Can anyone honestly say they have seen another Camco double bass concert Tom set with single headed bass drums and floortoms?

Also if they are out of round adding a bottom hoop 30 years later isn't going to help.

As far as playing vintage drums, I only hit the heads and those aren't vintage.

I was the first to respond to his thread, new finish and that's it. I am glad the a Camco expert such as Stef agrees with me. The OP must have sold the kit locally, he has not responded at all for a long time. But he sounded as though he cared about who purchased the set and that is a good thing. I would like to think it is in the hands of someone who really appreciate the kit and maybe just clean it up and play it. There is nothing wrong with old beat up finishes, in fact I would probably think very hard about re-finishing the kit before jumping into it, they look pretty cool just the way they are. But new looking would be great also, oh well Im not the one who has to make that decision. The guy never got back to me with a price, he probably is like me and dont care to ship all of that. But what ever the reason my financial status has changed since my PM to him so I couldn't afford it anyway.

Good luck oldjunkman and new Camco double bass owner!