Found this article on the internet......

First launched in 1981, Tama's Camco pedal was in production for two decades before being discontinued in 2001.

Such is the pedal's enduring popularity that many drummers are still using ageing examples of it today, among them talented metal monster Gene Hoglan. After years of requests Tama has relaunched the pedal, albeit on a limited basis.

"Underfoot, the sleekness of the design really makes sense, as the action is smooth, eager and blindingly quick."

Build

From the mid-'50s to early-'70s, Camco was a respected US drum and hardware manufacturer. Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys played a Camco kit for a time and these days the company's drums are reasonably collectible.

Camco's name and rights were eventually divided between Tama and a small LA-based collective called Drum Workshop - the signature turret lugs found on all DW drums are derived from a Camco design. Camco's influence can also be seen in first-generation 5000 series pedals.

Back in 1981 Tama took the Camco pedal design and added a chain drive and toothed sprocket; little changed over 20 years of production.

The 30th Anniversary model features an improved frame construction and upgraded rocker cam, but otherwise it's a faithful reproduction of the original. The curvaceous and ribbed footboard still sports the main Camco logo with a much smaller Tama insert.

Hands On

In comparison with today's 'engineering triumph' class of pedals, the Camco looks physically slight. There is no baseplate, the beater is of the symmetrical felt variety and the hoop clamp wingnut is located directly beneath the footboard.

Such retro details are part of the pedal's charm. Rather than offering endless adjustability, the Camco is an uncomplicated, built-for-speed tool.

Underfoot, the sleekness of the design really makes sense, as the action is smooth, eager and blindingly quick. While modern, heavy-duty pedals have the edge in terms of sheer power and solidity, I found the Camco's razor-sharp reflexes and all-round responsiveness a liberating playing experience.

I confess that I owned one of these pedals first time around so my feelings are warmed by nostalgia. However, with a strong market for classic drums and cymbals, surely classic hardware deserves equal recognition?

OMG, hilarity! bbeyer and K.O. we are all of the brotherhood of the lightweight footboard! This is blowing my mind, I really thought I must be the only lunatic on Earth to have done this.

I'd been meaning to upload this photo for y'all to have a good laugh.

How it came about was that when I first started playing drums 5 years ago, the kit I rescued from being dumpstered came with no pedal or throne, and I did a CL trade with a a guy for guitar in exchange for a sturdy old throne with the same kind of base that Roc-n-Soc and everyone else uses and a pair of ancient radius rod-type DW5000's that had been ridden hard.

One was a "turbo" sprocket (round) single chain where the teeth were worn to nubs and the other was a strap drive where the nylon was frayed. Both were loose as geese, but somehow I knew that DW5000=quality so I was pleased and set about trying to put together one good pedal out of the two of them.

A trip to my fave used music store yielded a prize in the form of a recent DW5000 whose beater cam had cracked. They just handed it to me and said take it away.

I saw that even across 50 years of development, at least half of the parts still fit together, as far as hole spacing, etc. You can order a new spring assembly for the latest DW5000 pedal and it will probably fit the earliest Camco or Martin Fleetfoot. The hinge and the nylon strap cam definitely will.

At one point I bought a replacement strap cam from DW to convert an old pedal and the casting marks were the same as on one from a pedal I knew to be at least 30 years old, so they were still using the tooling up until recently.

I put all the parts together in various combinations, trying the chain drive, strap drive, all these different things, and started scribbling out theories on paper. I was new to playing drums, and I was studying what my right foot was doing, how I was using my muscles, and how the pedal was set up made a big difference in those days before I had any technique at all.

Nylon strap material was obtained and studied. Turns out it's not easy to find the right width in fabric stores. I determined that the optimum material should be very flexible along its length, but as stiff as possible across its width. That's why the original leather was a good choice. Leather likes to bend just fine, it doesn't like to go sideways as much.

The aforementioned dollar store dog collars are pretty good donors. They win the flexibility contest and have good stiffness side-to-side. Gibraltar's Kevlar strap, if you cut its width down a little, wins the game if you want something with the sideways stiffness, but is not as flexible as the dog collar.

What turned out to make the biggest difference was the weight of the footboard. This is in stuff like playing doubles. Even more than the strap vs. chain, the inertia of that heavy later-era footboard feels sluggish to me.

Having everything bolted down to the plate just keeps it all in place and keeps my energy going into the beater, although I can make it happen with just the radius rod as well. Since those days I have started a small rescue farm for old DW (and even a couple of Camco and Gretsch FA) pedal parts, so if I get bored I can pull my favorite off and slap another one on.

A friend of mine who was restoring an old Gretsch kit bought a lot of pedal parts on eBay that included not only the Floating Action footboard he wanted, but a bunch of other parts, including this sweet Camco footboard that I couldn't resist mounting on the modern floorplate.

Erik-

I've been doing the frankenpedal thing quite a bit lately, mostly with Yamaha pedals, which I tend to like. They're also fairly retro-compatible. One thing I have tried in order to lighten the feel of some pedals is to try to reduce the amount of reciprocating or rotating mass, especially to balance out the feel of the remote pedal on a double pedal unit. Since the left (remote) pedal has everything that the main one does, plus the driveshaft, which adds mass that the main pedal doesn't have, I always remove the beater holder on the remote pedal. On the double wide chain drive ones, I remove the drive cam from the remote pedal and drill holes through the solid parts of the cam in order to lighten it up. To see what I mean, look at the drive cam on a Tama Speedcobra. It has what amounts to "spokes" in the wheel. I've also done this with single pedals, like a Tama Hi-beat, Pearl and Yamaha pedals, and it seems to work.

I just saw an old camco pedal in my local drumship, and it fidnt have the stars on the footboard. It had a metal hinge . Will load pics when I can..but for some reason my phone isn’t agreeing with vdf

I wont be selling this particular pedal as it is getting quite rare and very collectable in this original condition. It will be put with my other collectables.