How many MW 2155R tubas still exist?

[LCTuba89]

I know I have one and there were said to be only 20-25 made. So lets see how many are on the forums. I'll start with my model/serial #, location, and any info known about it.

MW 2155R/CF116 now resides in Lake Charles, LA
Known owners: Henry C. Alexander (deceased), Collin Thomas (myself)

[MartyNeilan]

The one that I owned had no serial number anywhere and no model number engraved on the bell. There were factory triggers for the 1st and 2nd slides, and a factory removable leadpipe. One leg of the stock tuning slide was VERY short. That specific tuba was very also very heavy, from what I remember.
Horn played great, very loud and powerful, but had the typical 2155R flat 3rd partial G. High register was very clear and in tune, and low register could knock down walls. Open 5th partial was surprisingly spot on in tune.

[Timmm]

I have one!

No triggers or anything like that.

The intonation took some getting used to, but man does it play well.

If I remember correctly there's a serial number on the valve section, and as stated above, no model number on the bell.

[cjk]

Engraving model numbers on tuba bells was not a common practice when those instruments were made (late 1980s or early 1990s). It's unlikely that any of them have model numbers on them.

[LCTuba89]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation ... BU1znIMZp8

Video of community band I play in during last year's Christmas concert. I'm the tubist on the left with the 2155R of course. The last piece featured me on some pedal tones particularly FF (43.65 Hz) and BBBb (29.14 Hz) on the very last note. Bear in mind that my mouthpiece at the time was very limiting on pedal tones.

[LCTuba89]

The intonation took some getting used to, but man does it play well.

I have recently found the mouthpiece that works best for this horn. The LOUD LM-12, LB-12, or Houser MK-12. It seems this horn's intonation gets better with more back-pressure and gets worse with less back-pressure. The only problem with having more back-pressure is it over-blows much easier whereas a larger mouthpiece like the LM-3 or PT-88 won't over-blow quite as easily. Another problem I ran into in the past with high back-pressure mouthpieces is they are usually solo mouthpieces that are too small in the rim department so low notes suffer. The LM-12/LB-12/MK-12 solves that issue with a huge 33.7mm rim width. So if your 2155R is still having intonation issues, try a LM-12/LB-12/MK-12 and tell me if they get better. I rarely have to slide pull since I made this mouthpiece change, what a game changer. Conclusion: The MW 2155R is highly mouthpiece sensitive. Mouthpieces with high back-pressure yield the best intonation.