New kit! DW Santa Monica - I got the scoop!

[bellbrass]

Christmas came early this year!

I just unboxed my new DW Santa Monica kit, fresh from California by way of Chris at Don Bennett drum studios. The Santa Monica line is a reissue of the L.A. Camco drums, with the quality, modern construction and touches we've come to expect from DW drums. John Good has done his research to recreate the shell & sound of the L.A. Camco drums, with vintage bearing edges, thicker maple shells, ply reinforcement rings, and undersized shells.

This is the first kit to go out to a regular non-endorser, and the first one with the new Santa Monica badge. The finish is a custom lacquer job in Candy Tangerine Sparkle.

Some backstory: I began my journey toward Camco a few years ago, when I intensified my studies of Jim Gordon's playing. Along the way, I became enamored of his sound and tuning, which naturally led me to seek a vintage Camco Oaklawn kit. Sets with his configuration were way beyond affordable to me, and my adventure with a used kit ended in disaster. I never have been a vintage drum guy, so I began looking into trying to recreate the Camco sound with a custom kit. Some members here were a big help with my research; others, proud members of the "Camco Country Club", told me I would never be able to recreate the sound with a new kit. Treviso1 encouraged me to reach out to DW, since they were the heir to the Camco legend. It just so happened that they had the Santa Monica project in full swing when I called, and John Good took a personal interest in helping to find that sound in a new kit.

I've only had them a day, and haven't played them other than fooling around with tuning, but I can already tell that they have that sound. They sound totally different than my Ludwig and Gretsch kits. Tomorrow brings an extended workout to really see what these can do. Stay tuned!

 

[Tilter]

Damn, that's a gorgeous finish, bellbrass! I hope your new kit gives you everything you've been looking for and then some.

Just curious; what's the Lincoln and Ashland designation on the badge representative of?

 

[speady1]

OK, OK...I live 15 minutes from you. Sitting here patiently awaiting the invite for a close-up look....LOL. Gorgeous kit and great story. Congrats!

 

[dilbertfan1]

Ill add my perspective to the story. Stewart posted here back in February about these Drums that John Good told him were coming. As a DW dealer and lover I jumped at the opportunity to be able to make this happen. This was s labor of love getting this kit from idea to actual drum set. The drums arent even going to be offered until NAMM, and even then there will be a longer than usual lead time.
I made Stewart a deal he couldnt resist, plus the opportunity to be the first customer in the world to own one of these kits. Every detail was discussed, which heads we wanted on each drum (DW usually decides), the choice of floor tom legs (we requested the aluminum ones from the Jazz series), and then the color. Oh my goodness, the color. Out of the 9 months it took to receive the drums, and out of the 126 emails related to them (I counted), the color was the key. And DW knocked it out of the park. One of the stepping stones was that DW had not even designed a badge for these special drums. That took quite a while in itself.
Im happy to have been part of this journey, and as John Good said to Stewart in the signing video, I hope you love and play these the rest of your life.

 

[skinsman]

This is WOW!

 

[drumdevil9]

Those look amazing, congrats!

 

[esooy]

Congrats! DW ftw!

 

[Treviso1]

Congrats Stewart! Those drums are gorgeous! You finally got what you have dreamt about for a very long time. Now, we need the review!

 

[drummerbill]

Wow, those are "the cat's pajamas" !!!!


Curious the difference between these shells / rerings / edges from a collectors or jazz series ?


Enjoy !!

 

[bbunks]

Damn, that's a gorgeous finish, bellbrass! I hope your new kit gives you everything you've been looking for and then some.

Just curious; what's the Lincoln and Ashland designation on the badge representative of?

Im guessing Camco might have had a plant on Lincoln & Ashland in Chicago?

 

[RickP]

What a great thread ! Beautiful kit.

 

[Tomb]

beautiful! looking forward to your review

 

[Neal Pert]

This is great news. How are they priced compared to Collectors series? This could motivate me to make a big mistake right now.

Also, what kind of spurs are they?

 

[Radio King]

Finally, the drum set of your dreams. Congratulations Stewart!

 

[dboomer]

The corner of Lincoln & Ashland in Santa Monica is where DW started.

 

[bellbrass]

Ill add my perspective to the story. Stewart posted here back in February about these Drums that John Good told him were coming. As a DW dealer and lover I jumped at the opportunity to be able to make this happen. This was s labor of love getting this kit from idea to actual drum set. The drums arent even going to be offered until NAMM, and even then there will be a longer than usual lead time.
I made Stewart a deal he couldnt resist, plus the opportunity to be the first customer in the world to own one of these kits. Every detail was discussed, which heads we wanted on each drum (DW usually decides), the choice of floor tom legs (we requested the aluminum ones from the Jazz series), and then the color. Oh my goodness, the color. Out of the 9 months it took to receive the drums, and out of the 126 emails related to them (I counted), the color was the key. And DW knocked it out of the park. One of the stepping stones was that DW had not even designed a badge for these special drums. That took quite a while in itself.
Im happy to have been part of this journey, and as John Good said to Stewart in the signing video, I hope you love and play these the rest of your life.

You were great with communication the whole way...it was quite a wait, but so far, worth the wait - can't wait to really lay into these today. And of course you gave me a great price! Thanks for putting up with all the emails....

 

[bellbrass]

Congrats Stewart! Those drums are gorgeous! You finally got what you have dreamt about for a very long time. Now, we need the review!

I'll post tonight about how they sound, both with and without being mic's up....excited, brother!

 

[bellbrass]

The corner of Lincoln & Ashland in Santa Monica is where DW started.

I had wondered about that myself - thanks for the little bit of history there.

 

[bellbrass]

This is great news. How are they priced compared to Collectors series? This could motivate me to make a big mistake right now.

Also, what kind of spurs are they?

I'm not sure how they are priced compared to the Collector's Series, as this is my first new DW kit, and I've never priced new Collector's. I'm told the price point will be similar, though - but don't quote me on that. These are pre-NAMM, so maybe the prices for these aren't yet set? The spurs are kick spurs, similar to Gibraltar kick spurs - which are my favorite. I don't think they are going for vintage-styled hardware on this series, but again, don't quote me on that.

 

[crash]

Sounds like a winner!!