Meinl & Weston B1211 (MW 25 predecessor?)

[dfriii]

IMG20230208133722_20.jpg (89.06 KiB) Viewed 701 times

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Hello! First a caveat: I'm not a real tuba player. I'm a bass trombone player who figured he could help some of the local groups with their low brass. After repairing local high school band instruments in order to play them, I decided to get a nice used tuba and learn how to make nice sounds on it. I ran across (and bought, for $2800) a Meinl & Weston 4 rotary valve BBb instrument which looks like a modern 25, but appears to be much older. It has beautiful deep scroll work on the bell, but only "B1211" as a model number. I measured the ID of the second tuning slide and got close to .768. Other dimensions are similar to the modern 25s. So the first question is, what is it? Anybody know its pedigree? It has a beautiful centered sound in all registers, when I'm giving it what it needs on my end. I struggle with a few notes that don't seem to want to speak (Gb, bottom of the staff is my curse), so I was going to take it to a tuba specialist for an overhaul. I just don't want to sink a bunch of money into something that may be past the point of improvement. Knowing how old it really is would be a start.
Thanks!

[bloke]

probably a serial number...perhaps at the request of Getzen - who imported them eons ago.

(During that time, most European manufacturers didn't mess with serial numbers for domestic or continental sales.)

If it's pretty darn tall (39") and the bell diameter is around 18"...it's a 25.

' sure looks nice !

[bort2.0]

Sorry, you are a real tuba player now

That's very cool, and I haven't seen very many of them with that style of engraving. I'm guessing it's from the 60s?

[bloke]

Sorry, you are a real tuba player now

That's very cool, and I haven't seen very many of them with that style of engraving. I'm guessing it's from the 60s?

yeah...the old "F...B-flat...home-really-late-the-third-week" joke...

[the elephant]

I am by no means an expert on old Meinl-Weston gear, but personally, I have never seen it with the Wenzel "W" initial before the name. I have only ever seen "Melton" or "Meinl-Weston" (hyphenated) with the old ones also having the Getzen marque added to the engraving. The few M-W tubas I have owned had plain bells: no kranz, no engraving. Is the "W" indicative of a specific time period?

[bloke]

It's a musical instrument store in Germany.
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... I see that Wade's on the edge of a tornado watch area for a few hours. I guess I am as well.

[dfriii]

It is very tall and has a roughly 18" bell. The original owner was a woman who played professionally in the mid-west. I learned this from the second owner, from whom I purchased the instrument. He had just turned 80 and was selling off his stuff. This was his main instrument, and he had been using it for over 30 years in small groups and semi-pro orchestras. I asked him if he was sure he wanted to sell it, and he just smiled and said he had no regrets. The tuba has been well loved.

To "bloke": I pestered you for weeks a few months ago asking all sorts of tuba-doofus questions and your advice led at least partially to this purchase. I sat on the ground in the parking lot where I met the owner and played for about 15 minutes, listening for leaks or noisy valves. You're also the "tuba expert" I planned on taking it to for a semicentennial overhaul. Wish you lived a bit closer. It's a 12 hour drive!

[DonO.]

It’s not “Meinl & Weston”, it’s just “Meinl -Weston” I have never seen engraving that fancy. I love it! It sure looks like a 25 to my eye. My guess is also 60’s. I played a ‘70’s 25 in college, it had simpler unadorned block lettering : “W. Meinl Weston- A Division of Getzen”. That is a dead giveaway for 70’s.

[bloke]

It is very tall and has a roughly 18" bell. The original owner was a woman who played professionally in the mid-west. I learned this from the second owner, from whom I purchased the instrument. He had just turned 80 and was selling off his stuff. This was his main instrument, and he had been using it for over 30 years in small groups and semi-pro orchestras. I asked him if he was sure he wanted to sell it, and he just smiled and said he had no regrets. The tuba has been well loved.

To "bloke": I pestered you for weeks a few months ago asking all sorts of tuba-doofus questions and your advice led at least partially to this purchase. I sat on the ground in the parking lot where I met the owner and played for about 15 minutes, listening for leaks or noisy valves. You're also the "tuba expert" I planned on taking it to for a semicentennial overhaul. Wish you lived a bit closer. It's a 12 hour drive!

You probably live twelve hours and the wrong direction - like south Texas or Milwaukee something - but if you lived twelve hours east, I might give you some credit on the work if you would pick up a Honda quarter panel at a junkyard for me that's a little bit west of Charlotte.

[dfriii]

I'm in West Virginia, so the direction is good...... How soon do you need the quarter panel? Junk yards usually ship to each other pretty cheap. I've done engines, transmissions, and body panels that way. I always get body panels from the south or south west: nobody in their right mind gets body panels from the rust belt, unless they like the smell of Bondo.

Guess I'd better put something tuba-ish in this post to keep it relevant. I spent years trying different mouthpieces for my trombones, but would like to converge on an ideal candidate a little faster, now that I have more decades behind me than in front..... The question is how to get access to a selection for trial purposes? I will be using it on the Meinl Mystery 25. I have just two mouthpieces now, and boy do they play differently. I've looked a little bit on this forum for a discussion of mouthpiece styles/types, compatible instruments, facial features, etc, but haven't found anything that I could latch onto yet. I know the problem I have with that Gb is related to the mouthpiece: it goes away when I use my old junky mouthpiece. Unfortunately the nice dark sound goes away too.

I know I've strayed off topic, and wanted to thank you all for the information. Looks like I have a predecessor to the 25 that the maker put a little extra effort into with regards to decorative markings. Hopefully he put some special sauce into the brass too! Now it's my turn to make a little of my own history with it.

[bloke]

For about $150, they would ship it, but I've had two fairly large car body parts shipped. One was a plastic bumper cover and they stupidly folded it in half - in order to ship it - and ruined it ("Just heat it. and it will straighten right out." Yeah I could have heated the one that I had and straightened it out pretty good, but I wanted a perfect one - not a stupidly folded one), and the other one was a hood - and I had to straighten out the front edges of it before installing it.

Okay. I'll call the place and start asking some "what if" questions. Let's not consider that we have any plans made yet.

Just so you know, I don't do big refinishing jobs on customer tubas, but I'm glad to work on them. I'm not saying that I won't do any polishing and spraying on areas.