Meinl Weston 46HML F tuba

[ahowle]

There's a tuba on Fedderly's site for sale that says it's a 46HML. I've gone to the MW website and I do not see anything about this particular model. All I know is that it's an F tuba, it has 6 valves, and it has a laquer finish. I will soon be buying an F tuba in the $4-5k range and am very interested in this horn. What is it? Is it a large horn, small horn, or what?

Also, if anyone else knows of a good F in this price range, let me know.

Thanks

[Tom]

I'll take a stab at what a 46HML could be...

"46" means it's a 6 valve tuba

"H" probably (as far as I can tell from my catalogs) means it's a Hilgers tuba

"M" only thing I'm not sure about ("medium"??? a typo???)

"L" means it's a large model

This tuba could be a medium Walter Hilgers model. At one time they made a Hilgers model in small, medium, and large. The small model was a 5 rotor tuba iwth a .728-.768 bore and a 15" bell. The large model is also 5 rotors but has a .768 bore through the valve section and an .807 4th valve bore with a 16.5" bell. The medium sized horn was never really popular as they generally didn't play too well. Obviously the tuba in question (in the right hands) played really well.

There are a lot of "things" this tuba could be/have:

.768-.846 graduated bore (similar to your B&S bloke???)
.728 bore with a .768 bore 4th valve
.728-.768 bore
.768 bore with a .807 4th bore 4th valve

The easiest way to figure this out would be to call up Dave Fedderly...he WILL know what this is and would be happy to tell you about it.

[Tom]

Look through the directory, find Matt Good (Dallas Symphony), and send him an email or a P.M. asking him if this tuba is similar to his.

I think Mr. Good is playing a 45SLZ (among others, of course) these days in the Dallas Symphony. He favored this model over his handmade prototype SLP, which he sold to me after much deliberation.

The 45SLZ
Big F Tuba
5 rotary valves
Bore: .767in; 3rd valve: .807in (a little bigger than the SLP @ .748 with a .787 4th valve)
4th valve slide graduated bore: .807in - .846in (as far as I know the SLP does not have this)
Bell diameter: 16.5in

FWIW, I wasn't a big fan of the SLP either until I played Mr. Good's tuba. All I was looking for was an F tuba that had pretty good intonation and had a low range (I know...a lot to ask for ) and the rest, as they say, is history...

As an aside: One thing that is awful about the SLP is the placement of the 5th valve paddle (mounted way up there on the 1st slide). Unless you have monster sized hands, there is no way to push the 5th and (especially) the 4th down at the same time. I don't have really small hands (no trouble with the "big valves" themselves) and still found the ergonomics to be troublesome. Mr. Good had the 5th valve redone with a 5th valve trigger kit from a 2165 that made his SLP really comfortable to play. Several other people in the Dallas area have done this, and I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes the SLP but finds the ergonomics hard to deal with.

[Stefan]

If Dave is selling it - ask Dave.

Stefan

[Matt Good]

The 46HML is the large bore Hilgers model with six valves. You can find out a little more information in the following link (scroll down to the bottom):

http://www.meinl-weston.com/ftubas.htm

This horn, most likely, has the same valve set as my 45SLZ as mentioned in Bloke's post. Your best best bet would be to contact David Fedderly at Baltimore Brass for more information.

-Matt Good

[harrell]

I have a Rudolph Meinl 6V F for sale in Jackson(Pearl.) I think you played it once at DSU Honor Band. I am selling my Kalison CC and Rudy F to buy my dream horn, whatever that is!

Comes with hard case. It is a nice little horn. 16" bell, good solo/quintet horn. And priced for quick sale.

$3000.00. (and you could avoid having to pay shipping charges) email me if you're interested.