[COLOR="DarkRed"]May well be that some day they do achieve collector's value...I agree, if they are a high-quality drum and are connected to the lineage of Camco, I would have guessed their values to be higher. May just be too obscure right now, though...[/COLOR]

Nice kit Kelly, I have an identical one. However I can also speak first hand regarding early Tama Superstars having bought one brand new in about 1981. They were Tamas topline kit endorsed mainly by Billy Cobham and were superb, in fact the quality of the Tama product compared to other stuff on the market made everyone else up their game. Back to the 78 Camco kit I have. As the badges state "Made in USA" would it be viable to ship shells from Japan for assembly in the States just to qualify for a "made in " badge?

I don't know the answer but mine sound superb regardless of where the shells were made. Quite unusual for 1978 that my bass drum is "undrilled" ie no tom tom mounting bracket. Also there are no signs of paint inside of mine

As an aside Kelly what heads you using on bass drum?

Regards

Gaz

Hey Gaz!

Thanks for your input on LA Camco. No drill holes on the Bass! Do you have pics of your kit to share?Yes Sir

The shells are superb and sure look American made. There is no paint residue or re-rings just a serial number sticker, so definitely not late "Camco" stock.

I'm not sure if the Japanese had the tooling yet in '78 to make shells of that quality, let alone find the Maple to do it? Remember all the funky lines of Japanese L'uan mahogany shells a la Stewart, Apollo ad infinitum...from the '60's, 70's

Perhaps Tama Superstar shells of early '80's vintage came from a US shell manufacturer?

No question the hardware came from Nippon as it is stamped thus.

I use a Remo Powerstroke 3 and an Ambassador coated resonant on the bass.

Cheers!

~K

https://reverb.com/ca/item/4468644-tama-camco-lug-casings-6-pcs-used Like these lugs?

These are not the "Soon to be DW" Lugs. IF you were talking about a full on George way style turret lug, without the square part where the swivel nut is, THAT would be an interesting thing to see

(Sorry for bumping a WAY old thread, but I was browsing the web for info on the Tama/Camco/DW deal and came across this)

Great point!

I guess I was trying to say that the patent had been purchased and was no longer Camco. Tama had continued the George Way "look".

peace,

kellyj

I wish there was a source for concrete info on this subject. For some reason it interests me, even though I dont own any DW or Camco drums.

As far as the lugs, I think Tama created that lug to resemble the original camco lug, but got some crap from DW about it and only used it for a few years before slapping it on some royalstar drums and then getting rid of it all together.

Ive read articles that claim that Tama owned the patent to the camco shell design, and even though DW acquired the leftover camco shells, They had to put a different bearing edge on them and they offered them in an inch or so deeper than usual sizes (17x16, 10x12, 11x13 etc)

But other sources claim that the Hoshino/Camco drums were built in PA with leftover Camco LA shells (keller)

With regard to Tama. First - they were one of three stencil drum makers in the 1960's, early 70s'. And not all of the kits were " junk " as with today there were differing levels of quality based on what you wanted to spend. When Tama became Tama they were well under way with both development and technology and no Tama shells were ever made in the U.S.A. Superstar & the other higher end drums used better source materials then lower end lines, same as what would be done today. With regard to Camco, Tama did receive numerous old stock from Camco including shells. So some of the first Tama made Camco kits used U.S.A made Camco shells. Not sure exactly how many or how long that lasted for.

Well thats partly why I asked this question, Because I dug up an article (Somewhere) where a guy was looking into the shell construction on the first kits that DW sold, and he was sure that they were leftover LA Camco shells.

This would mean that Tama DIDNT use LA Camco shells for the Camco drums that they built.

Just a note. I have some Chanute badged Camco's and the interiors are white. Also stop making fun of my Stewert drums. I have a 1966 set and they sound great ! ��

It's also interesting because from what I " thought " I knew ( And again I could be wrong, hence why I didn't mention earlier ) What I thought I read,heard, fromsome time ago was that when Camco sold their rights Tama bought the use of the name, while DW bought their old shell stocks,parts, basically all the materials to start their company. I was aware of Tama actually getting their hands on any actual materials. And what also gave credence to this was when you look at the first sets DW came out with, they are spot on for Camco with their construction. Again I could be totally wrong in that. It's very conflicting because I feel like I have heard both that they did and did not get stock in terms of shells,parts,etc... Possibly because they had their own and maybe that's why their Camco lug is slightly different than the actual Camco lug.