MW Travel F in stock @ Tubadome!

[The Big Ben]

http://www.tubadome.com/Index_files/page0026.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

This little gem is 25" tall and has a removable bell ala screw bell French horns.

With photo....

$6895 w/case and practice mute..

[tubacrow]

After looking at the price and the horn itself, I am left with one question. If this is a travel tuba, why is the case not more substantial. I agree that 20" is not that large and might be allow as a carry on, but I have been on flights where it would not have been. I was on a flight to Ireland where we had to check the corents, which are smaller. I guess I was expecting a horn that was meant for travel to come standard with a travel suited case.

[Wyvern]

I am left with one question. If this is a travel tuba, why is the case not more substantial.

I had heard they would come with a flight case. Maybe that is optional at extra price?

Anyone tried one yet and can give feedback? Purely suitable for practice use, or could hold up with small ensemble?

One of these would be nice for playing on holiday, but then after paying out to buy, would not have money for the holiday anyway!

[Matt G]

It's odd that they make it with a removable bell, and then proceed to build a case that still places the bell on edge, just like it would have been if left on the horn. One would think that the bell would be placed flat to further minimize at least one of the dimensions.

[The Big Ben]

http://www.tubadome.com/Index_files/page0026.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

This little gem is 25" tall and has a removable bell ala screw bell French horns.

Actually, they're around 20" tall.

Oops. 20.25" tall. That's where I got the 25" from.

I wonder what it sounds like?

[THE TUBA]

$2355 more and you can buy a Fafner. W/O a case.

The choice is easy.

Right now, the Travel F is priced at $8,097.00 at WWBW. That is more expensive than these other F tubas at WWBW:
MW 182
MW 2182
MW 45P (Lacquer)
Miraphone Petruschka (Lacquer)

I'm just sayin'...

[bort]

The price of this tuba neither surprises nor bothers me.

[timdicarlo]

I played one of these at the Midwest Clinic in December. It felt sort of like playing a euphonium with a bunch of gym socks crammed into the bell. It would be an amusing toy, but not $7-8000 amusing.

On a more serious note, though, how practical would this be for a professional musician? Would the benefits of having an ultraportable tuba outweigh the price? Judging by the general attitude of most of the posts I'd assume not, but I'm just wondering.

[Wyvern]

Would the benefits of having an ultraportable tuba outweigh the price?

Obviously M-W must think there is a market to go to the expense of developing! Maybe the demand is more in German???

[Cameron Gates]

I played that thing at the Army conference. I was surprised that it worked, however I still do not see use for it in any application other than practicing while on vacation or on a tour.

That being said, I would love to have one. Family vacations and long tours would be so much easier with one of these things to hack on for an hour a day. As it stands right now, I go on vacation and don't play. Upon arrival back home I have to go to work and suck like suck has never sucked before. I really hate this. I want one, but $6500? Don't see that happening.

How about approaching Cerveny to make a similar product? Or one of the Chinese builders? If they could build one and keep it in the $2000-2500 range, I'd buy the first one to hit the shores. The Chinese are building 186 CC copies that play, why not one of these? As for pitch and finish quality - Who cares? It's not a usable ensemble instrument, only a tool to lessen suckage.

[Rotaryclub]

I've tried to play this horn a couple of times, and it is a complete turd. I love MW horns, but I cannot believe they actually make this one. I've always wondered what it's like to play one of those six-valve French tubas, I'll bet this is close. And the price?

Weird.

[Mike-ICR]

No wonder this thing doesn't work. The bell is barely larger than that of a standard trombone and the bore is smaller than the 4th valve bore on a MW euphonium. It's like trying to play a valve trombone with a tuba mouthpiece.

They should/someone should/I might make one from a euphonium body (11" bell and about 2' tall), with a 0.66X-0.7XX bore and a shorter leadpipe. It would probably even fit into a euphonium flight case.

BBb and CC versions would probably be made from those old 1/2 size Eb American tubas. I think they usually stand about 30" tall and sport 13" bells.

They can easily be built for a fraction of the cost and play 90% better.

Is there even a market for such an instrument? This instrument was obviously made to play in public, not just to practice. Are many pros finding it crowded in the ranks? Is it a matter of not wanting to carry a full size tuba around?

Whatever the reason, If there's a need for it or if anyone is interested, I'm willing to give it a whirl.

[tubatom91]

pure novelty, to me at least. I would rather just lug a nice playing horn wherever I'm going....Mike's idea sounds a whole lot better of an option. This horn however would be on my list if I won the lottery, along with a Yamayork, a Cimbasso, and a 5 valve CC helicon....I of course would buy a communal one for the TNFJ to playtest...

[J.c. Sherman]

The price of this tuba neither surprises nor bothers me.

Ditto...

For some, this could be a very useful tool for a tubist on tour.

J.c.S.

[petter@brasseriet.no]

This tuba is indeed developed to be an instrument for the "on the road" tuba player. When your full size F or C is in the truck, stuck in a container together with the timpani etc, you will now be able to practice those tricky passages in your hotel room when you wait for your "real" horn to be delivered. In the past tuba players had to search for the nearest bar and drink those waitin´beers, while the fiddlers sat in their rooms practicing. Now tuba players can do as the fiddlers. You can ask if this is a positive step of development? It is up to you what to do, but now Meinl Weston has made it possible for you to choose. When it comes to price we are talking of a very limited production of an unique instrument. You are not forced to buy it, but you have the opportunity to!
Greetings from a happy MW Travel-Tuba owner!

[Matt G]

Cerveny used to make these:



I wonder if the tooling is still accessible. I'm sure they could turn out a similar product in about any key (pictured is BBb, IIRC). Problem is, they probably let the market dictate their actions.

Sometimes Meinl-Weston/Melton takes customer input a bit too seriously, IMO.

[petter@brasseriet.no]

Hello Matthew
Just to inform you - the "Tornister" tuba as mentioned above is re-launched.
A small workshop in Markneukirchen, Germany is building them!

http://www.hsm-brass.de/" target="_blank" target="_blank

[imperialbari]

The Cerveny Tornister instruments (narrow trombonium type through BBb tuba) were pre-the-end-of-WWI field instruments for the Austrian-Hungarian imperial armies. I have seen no documentation of any made post-WWI. The sample shown above here obviously has had its pitch converted from the high Bohemian military pitch (the same goes for immense numbers of other instruments surviving WWI).

The closest revival of the Tornister instruments appears to be marketed by Bob Tucci in Munich:

http://www.hornboerse.de/cgi-bin/shop/l ... 12007&ls=e

The German text is more informative than the apparently missing English one. Still it is less than precise about who the maker might be. And the only price mentioned is for the most basic version, which would be the 3 valve F tuba.

Klaus

[imperialbari]

So the maker of the Tucci-marketed Tornister BBb appears to be German, which would make me more comfortable about the quality of the making. The 3 valve BBb appears to be the only version available yet. But a 15mm bore for BBb instrument isn’t much.

This maker has a used 3 BBb tuba with a bore of 17mm on his price list for reconditioned instruments. The price is little more than half of the Tornister version.

Klaus

[The Big Ben]

So the maker of the Tucci-marketed Tornister BBb appears to be German, which would make me more comfortable about the quality of the making. The 3 valve BBb appears to be the only version available yet. But a 15mm bore for BBb instrument isn’t much.

This maker has a used 3 BBb tuba with a bore of 17mm on his price list for reconditioned instruments. The price is little more than half of the Tornister version.

Klaus

Pictures of a Great War vintage Cerveny have been posted here from time to time. Another Tornister was on eBay about a year ago but was really rough. Like they pulled it out of a trench.... last year! The consensus was that this one was a baritone horn.

It would seem that the F model has the possibility of having better tone than the BBb in the same size because the tubes are shorter so could be larger around.