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Here is a comparison photo of my Rudy 4345R and my students Miraphone 1292. My 4345R is the compact version of the 4/4 45 Rudy.

The similarity of those bugles is uncanny! Any other similarities?

Bump for a GREAT tuba....

Love my 4345 rotary!! Here is a photo of my 4345 (flat whole step 5th) Rudy next to a Mirahone 1292.....

Looks like Rudy copied the Miraphone 191!

Their heights are similar, yes, but doesn’t the RM 4345R have a way fatter bottom bow?

What's most interesting to me is that nearly everything about the actual taper and construction of these instruments is different yet because they occupy the same basic form factor they look like twins at first glance.

Notable differences:
1)piston vs rotor
2) Top bows on Miraphone has the sharp asymmetric bend
3) Inner bows of Rudy are skinnier(Miraphone gets fat sooner)
4) bell end taper of Miraphone is much more 'American'.. visibly similar to a York Monster Eb bell minus the pancake

I would argue that the Rudy bows are tapered much more in the spirit of the traditional German tall bell rotary tuba and the Miraphone much more in the spirit of a traditional American tuba(with some acoustic voodoo in those top bows to correct for the inherent problems with that rate of taper).

I played that Rudy at Lee's shop before you took delivery of it many years ago. To this day one of my absolute most favorite horns. Did they ever do production runs of the 4345r?
I bought the standard 4/4 shortly after playing yours but it wasn't quite the same. I would love to spend some time in a hall to hear what it's like.
You have any recordings with the orch?

Interesting how the locations of the bottom bell ferrules are different.

I'm always interested in comparing tubas side by side and I enjoy the picture, but all I see here is two similarly wrapped C tubas. Surely any similarly sized tubas of the same key and the same number of bows would look about as similar as these or am I missing something?

Anyway, nice tubas!

No!

Yes!

Rudolf Meinl did not copy a Mirafone. The 1292 pictured is a relatively recent development, whereas the model 4345 was being developed when I was at the Rudolf Meinl workshop for two weeks in February 1995. Robert Tucci had commissioned Herr Meinl to build a copy of his old Conn CC, a compact instrument, that as I understand it was originally made as one of four requested by August Helleberg. Rudolf Meinl made a limited number of these Perantucci piston-valve CC tubas, which for all the world looked like a 1920's Conn. These were first made circa 1988, and true to the old Conn they had a relatively small valve bore (ca. .689"). When I asked Rudolf Meinl about the 4345 in February 1995, he explained that their instrument sizes were expressed by the bell diameter, ie., 43cm bell diameter = 3/4 CC or BBb, 45cm bell diameter = 4/4 CC or BBb, 50cm bell =5/4, etc. Since Rudolf Meinl's standard 3/4 rotor instrument had a bore of ca. .750", he named his own version of an American-style CC tuba 4345 for a 3/4 valveset on a 4/4 body. There are several of these fine instruments in the US. The short bottom bow, as compared to the 1291, is because of the design's distinctive American flavor. Rudolf Meinl made a very few model 4345 rotor CC's, the 4345 body fitted with the 3/4 CC rotor valveset. I would estimate that less than 6 of these instruments are in the US. The model 4345 rotor CC is one of my all-time favorites, because of the rich tonal qualities, exquisite intonation, and a lot of power out of a compact instrument. The 1292 is a fine instrument, but is considerably different.

Lee, great first hand knowledge report!

We need as many as at all possible of these reports on TN.

Klaus