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bellbrass
DFO Master
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!
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!
