If I remember correctly when Camco folded Tama bought the name but DW bought the tooling which is why DW's early pedals were almost identical to the Camco (and why their drums have the turret lug design) and you still see some of the Camco DNA in certain DW pedal models. Tama brought out their version of the Camco pedal but it was totally new pedal based on the Camco design but of the Camcos that were modified into chain drive, which was a very popular modification at the time. The Tama version is a great pedal (I think I own six of them).

How thick is the leather used as the hinge on these? I might try to fabricate one and give it a try.

KO The leather hinge is 4mm thick same thickness as the strap. Plus its the original strap/hinge from the camco factory in the 60's. You can also have this pedal with just the foot plate and no heel plate. Camco were well ahead of their time. This pedal so I believe went from the 50's right to the end. I love chain drive ive recently got myself double 900P iron cobras. I'm gonna show some pics of the different combinations you can set the foot plate in on the camco.

I didnt like the longboard foot plate on this custom ordered strap drive DW I bought.. So I swapped it out originally for a gretsch floating action board, but that broke, so I now have this camco 5000 board on there, which came from a pedal that was falling apart. Hopefully I dont break this one too.

I agree, there is something about these strap drives that make them feel a bit quicker

Heres the DW solid board/long board pedals, if people have heard of such a thing http://dwdrums.com/images/hardware/dwcp5000ADS-med.jpg

Tama basically copied it too, I have one from 1979-80 (bought new) & aside from replacing the strap & spring-to-cam connector (I used a keyring :D) it still works perfectly.

Camco went out of buisness, And They sold the name to Tama, Tama also bought the chain drive patent from Frank Ippolito's Widow (??) (He invented the chain drive concept that people were using to mod their original Camco pedals and Gretsch pedals), And then released the totally different Camco/Tama pedal. The only thing it shared with the original was the name.

DW bought the tooling from Camco, and from what Ive read, Also bought the other half of the chain drive patent from Either Ippolitos business partner, or HIS widow (Im not sure of the details, but I do know that two people held the same patent, and Tama and DW had to separately pursue the patent)

Many people speak of the later tama camco pedals as if they have anything mechanically to do with the originals, but the DW pedal holds that honor.

Howdy, I enjoyed reading about the Camco/Gretsch Floating Action/Tama/DW pedal history and development. Does anyone know any details about the Martin (Fleetfoot pedal) company of Minneapolis that was the design precursor for the Camco and its "descendants" ? I will attach some photos. Thanks, Joe

(I don't collect drums, but unfortunately do collect pedals...)

I did something similar to one of my DWs and later I switched out the chain drive for a strap. So far mine has held up fine.

BBEYER....Your pedal that you have put a Camco foot board on has a star at top and star at bottom. The Camco foot plate on my pedal does not have any stars on it. Is there some reason for this. KO....I like your pedal with the gretsch foot board. One thing I love on the Camco pedal I have is the leather hinge holding heel to foot plate. I even removed the heel to show how pedal works without it. I'm really fascinated by this pedal as this is the first Camco ive had and I'm really liking it considering the age and knowing that the previous drummer played this professionally. Check out a few more pics.

Yours seems to be much older than mine, maybe they added the stars in later years

I'm lost now as to year. All the catalogues seem to show stars on them. Do you know if footplate was all silver or black paint. Mine doesn't look like any paint present. I might even put another strap on pedal and a metal hinge to preserve original leather strap and leather hinge. Thanks to everyone for all the input.