New to me Meinl Weston questions

[Jon_D]

Hello all! First off, I'm new to the forum and have been enjoying reading through the mountains of information that's posted here. I have a couple of questions I'd like to ask, and I apologize in advance if this has been asked here before. I have a "new to me" Meinl Weston BBb 4 rotary tuba (with removable bell) that is missing a couple of pieces that my local repair guy has been having some trouble finding. The most bothersome is there is a screw flange for the bell that's missing. I also cannot find a model or serial number on it anywhere, other than on the mouthpiece receiver is stamped "Made in West Germany". I tried to load a photo, but the file I have is too large. It's a nice playing horn, and I acquired it at a very good price, so are there any popular modifications that can be made to improve it in any way? The action was a little sluggish at first due to it not being played for some time, but after a good cleaning, lubrication and some playing time it has gotten a lot better.
Sorry for the long rambling post! I look forward to getting back to being more involved with an instrument I've always loved playing but haven't spent nearly enough time doing so!

[scottw]

Welcome back to tuba! And welcome here at TubeNet! You will find that many of us have come back to tuba after a lengthy layoff, so you have a perspective out there similar to your own experience.
As you are in Wisconsin, I'd suggest contacting Lee Stofer [Music] over in Iowa for guidance on your horn issue--he is truly terrific at what he does.

[Jon_D]

I hope I did this right, these should be link to pictures of my tuba. I couldn't get the camera on my phone to take small enough resolution pictures to upload here. Engraved on the bell is "Meinl Weston, a division of Getzen". The only thing I found stamped on the mouthpiece receiver is "Made in West Germany".
Any other information I can gather about possible year of manufacture and model number is greatly appreciated!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HISU_7 ... p=drivesdk" target="_blank
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z_R1hI ... p=drivesdk" target="_blank
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FkxIWe ... p=drivesdk" target="_blank

[jperry1466]

Sounds like it might be the Meinl-Weston model 31. They had 4 valves with detachable bell. All of them in the 70s were stamped Made in West Germany on the lead pipe. Would like to be able to see pics.

[jperry1466]

Does anyone have one of those old (were they one-page / two-sided...??) 1970's Getzen Meinl-Weston black-and-white fliers that could be scanned and linked here ?

Wish I still had mine, but it's been missing about 40 years. That said, I believe there were some of those pictures and models, maybe in color, in The Instrumentalist magazines from those days.