Help Identifying this W. Meinl Weston Tuba

[euph1ium]

I purchased this several years ago as a school trade from the music store I work for. It is old...my guess is a 1970s horn. It is in good working order and plays very well for how old it is. The rotors' linkage is fairly noisy, but likely that way due to age and wear.

The bell has a silver tone ring and is engraved W. Meinl Weston. There is a serial number engraved on the 2nd rotor outer casing A2028. Made in Germany is engraved on the mouthpipe receiver.

This Tuba is in Bb, has 4 rotors, the linkage is curved and barbed rather than straight like the newer Meinls. There is no Getzen engraving anywhere on the instrument.

My guess is it's an old Model 20, but the layout of the tubing is different from the Model 20s that come up with a Google search.

Any ideas? Here is a poor quality picture since I can't upload anything over 150kb!

[Matt Walters]

It is a Meinl Weston 20 if it has the 16.5" diameter bell flair. Older versions had the 4th valve slide in the back of the horn instead of the front. Also, you could special order the tuba with nickel silver bell garland.
If the bell flair measures 17.75", you would have an older version of a Meinl Weston 25.

[euph1ium]

Based on bell measurement, it has to be an older Model 20. The bell rim has been damaged and is quite dished in 3 places, so the measurement I'm getting is not entirely accurate, but it's definitely not a 17.75" bell.

Thanks for the info!