Re: Re: Meinl-Weston 32 CC


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Posted by AW on March 10, 2004 at 21:06:50:

In Reply to: Re: Meinl-Weston 32 CC posted by Mark E. Chachich on March 10, 2004 at 16:30:15:

This tuba has been discussed before, and both Mark and I have posted about it. I might as well chime in again. First of all, I agree with Mark's take on the instrument. It's a very versatile tuba; capable of a big sound, can be played softly, and is agile. I think it has a great singing tone, and others have commented on liking my sound.

The low end can be considered stuffy compared to some other horns, but warm slow air works well. For some low notes (more than four ledger lines below the staff) that I have to play quickly, I sometimes use "false tones," as they work well on the MW32. The false tones are less resonant, speak more quickly, and take more practice to play well in tune. The regular-fingered pedal range has better tone, and easier intonation.

The horn's general intonation is good. The notes are either in tune or can be lipped into tune without slide adjustments. For a few notes when I play them loud or hold them for a while, I adjust the first valve slide. To facilitate that, I had the first valve vented, and its slide lapped. [Jim Becker of Osmun Music did a great job.]

I started out with a Conn Helleberg mouthpiece, which worked well. Now, I am using a Mike Finn MF3 which I like a lot. It's a large mouthpiece, and helps the low range. I expected the high range (above the staff) to be more difficult, and it was at first. Then, after a couple of weeks the high range came back, and sounds better than before.

All in all, I'm happy with the MW32. It was a great enough tuba to make me switch from BBb to CC, just so I could play that horn.

All of this is my very personal reactions to the MW32 tuba (and the MF3 mouthpiece). Go ahead and form your own opinions as to what fits you. Best of luck!

Allen Walker



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