I drove south from the UK overnight and as it approached breakfast time, realized I was not far from Diespeck, where Rudolf Meinl is located, so on the spur of the moment decided to look in unannounced and see if I could see anything.
I arrived at 8am at the workshop/shop which is in a residential area, not where you would expect to find a tuba manufacturer. There where no visible lights, or signs of life inside, so I stopped and looked in the window at this Aladdin's cave of tubas, considering if I should wait until 9am to see if they opened, or continue my journey. Just as I was thinking this, a car came from around the back and stopped - it turned out to be Herr Meinl senior. I explained being a tubist from England who was interested in their tubas and he promptly took me around the back to the workshop to Herr Meinl junior who speaks good English. He said it was no trouble for me to see and try some tubas and escorted me through to the showroom pictured below.
picture 1
picture 2
picture 3
picture 4
picture 5
picture 6
I am afraid, I do not remember all the models, so you can have fun trying to identify. However, I can tell you that the cimbasso in picture 5 are an F and CC - I never knew cimbasso where available in CC. While in picture 6 is one of the 6/4 BBb in gold brass in the middle of the picture.
Having told Herr Meinl that I play Eb and CC he then took me up to their playing room where there were two Eb's, a 4/4 and 5/4 - once again I never knew they made Eb tubas. They are unusually configured with the 5th valve left hand operated with what looks like a 6th valve button, in fact working a 2nd valve trigger.
picture 7
I tried them both and particularly liked the 4/4 which is on the left in the photo. Its low valve register was I think the best I have ever found on an Eb, while it had a good tone throughout. I did not like the left hand operated 5th valve and mentioned this to Herr Meinl who said they would be happy to make one with thumb operated 5th valve to order. Apparently they sell about one Eb tuba per year.
The 5/4 CC was already in the test room, so I had a blow on that. I don't know if it was just air leaking around the valves because they were dry, but it made a strange buzz. Quite apart from that, I did not think it blew as well as my Neptune, so was not impressed - but it might just have been that particular instrument. The 3/4 and 4/4 CC had been in the showroom, so Herr Meinl brought those for me to try. I much preferred both of those and particularly the 4/4 which I thought an excellent player, quite the equal of my PT-20 (with which I am more than satisfied).
picture 8
Above can be seen the 3/4, 4/4 and 5/4 CC lined up.
I unfortunately did not see any construction of tubas because the firm seems a family affair with no one else working, but on speaking to Herr Meinl all their tubas are made by hand, with all components except the springs and piston valves made in-house. Time for construction of a tuba is from 180 to 280 hours.
After an hour distracting Herr Meinl from his work, I thanked him and continued my travels. My next report will be of my visit to Melton/Meinl-Weston.
I suspect that if a horn was not already sold, a deal could be done.