Posted by Rick Denney on May 22, 2003 at 00:30:45:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: audition equipment posted by MW2000=5/4 size horn on May 21, 2003 at 18:50:16:
Oh, I don't know.
Used to be that the Miraphone 186 was the standard 4/4 instrument. It is smaller than a Rudy Meinl 4/4, for example. But that 186 is bigger than most instruments called "4/4" these days, so I think there has been a bit of size inflation.
But when Ron Bishop got a Meinl-Weston 2000, the man it sold it to him explained it by saying that Mr. Bishop's conductor didn't want him to have a big tuba.
I think I have to agree that no matter what the ad copy says, a 2000 is a full-size tuba, like an HB-21, a PT-5, Dale's B&M, and my York Master. They could only be called 5/4 because fat Yorkalikes are called 6/4, when they aren't really any bigger than the big kaiser rotarty tubas that are called 5/4.
But if the Rudy Meinl with the .866 bore and the 20" bell is a 5/4, and if the Willson 3050 is a 5/4, then the 2000 is a 4/4.
The point? The numbers mean no more than the product of Wade's poetry.
A visit through the gallery filling my web article on the subject will persuade anybody that the numbers are pretty meaningless.
Rick "who has played a 2000 and thought it took about as much lap as his YM, but not nearly as much as his Holton" Denney