Camco Drum Company
| Fate | Assets purchased by Drum Workshop and Tama Drums |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1954 |
| Defunct | 1977 |
| Headquarters | Nagoya, Japan |
| Products | drums, drum hardware, percussion |
| Owner | Hoshino Gakki |
The Camco Drum Company was originally a drum hardware manufacturer which began producing drums after a hostile takeover of the George H. Way drum company in 1961.
During its roughly 17-year history, the company had three different locations - Oak Lawn, Illinois, from 1961 until 1971, Chanute, Kansas (when they were briefly owned by Kustom) from 1971 till 1973 and then finally in Los Angeles until 1977/78 and the company's demise. The drums were easily identified by George Way's distinctive round lug design and the so-called "cloud" badge, which was used throughout the company's history, except for a brief two-year period (roughly from 1969 to 1971) when an oval badge was sometimes used.
In the 1960s, unlike the major American drum companies like Ludwig, Gretsch, Rogers and Slingerland, Camco almost entirely missed the rock music wave, picking up only a small handful of high-profile rock players like Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and Doug Clifford of Creedence Clearwater Revival. This lapse meant the brand laboured under a slightly old-fashioned image and almost certainly sowed the seeds for its later demise.
As the company was attracting predominantly endorsers from a jazz background such as Tijuana Brass' Nick Ceroli, much of the company's output during the 1960s tended towards small four or five-piece kits in comparatively small sizes, in marked contrast to their competitors, who were marketing kits of multiple drums in bigger sizes to compete with the huge increase in rock band amplification.
Camco drum shells during the Oak Lawn and Chanute periods tended to be either three or four ply with glue rings. When they moved to Los Angeles, the company changed shell manufacturers and opted for a six ply with glue ring construction. Though quite different in sound, both periods have their fans. Most collectors tend to favour the Oak Lawn period, simply because these were the original drums (and to an extent Chanute, which used the same shells as when the company was in Oak Lawn). Pre-LA the drums would have white-painted interiors if there was a plastic wrapped exterior and a clear lacquered interior if the outer was also a lacquer finish. LA shells always had clear lacquered interiors regardless of their exterior finish.
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Wikipedia