Re: Re: Dillon Meinl Weston


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Posted by Dale on September 22, 2000 at 19:53:31:

In Reply to: Re: Dillon Meinl Weston posted by Pete on September 21, 2000 at 00:46:52:

ok...a history of my Holton as told to me by its only other owner.

Mr. Jacobs had ordered a bell-front tuba from Holton when my friend
(we'll call him "Stratos") was a student at Northwestern in the ealy 70's.
Mr. Jacob's idea was that the recording venue at that time was unfavorable to
him and that the engineers were only placing one mic for the low brass,
in front of the trombones. When he went to pick up the horn, it was a
standard design.

At his lesson one day Stratos found Jake fuming and mumbling all through the
lesson, and finally asked him what was wrong. When told that Jacobs was
stuck with a horn which didn't fit his order, Stratos gallantly offered to
take it off his hands. Mr. Jacobs brightened up considerably and offered the
horn for cost. Ready? $1200.00 (1972.)

Maybe 10 years later, Stratos realized need for a fifth valve. Jake put him in touch with
Peter Hirsbrunner via Bob Tucci. Hirsbrunner sent the parts to add the fifth valve
which Stratos did. After doing some playing including the New Orleans Philharmonic
and also Shreveport, Stratos moved to Dallas where he's a well-known professional player freelancing and playing in a number of groups including the Dallas Wind Symphony. This Holton was used in session recordings with the DWS (7 or 8 recordings at least.) In 1990 Don Little used the horn in the Berlin Radio Symphony for a year. Stratos taught at North Texas during Don's sabbatical. Gerhard Meinl (Meinl-Weston, B & S, VMI) did a cosmetic overhaul while the horn was in Yurrop, and in return, they used it as the template for the prototype "2165." Subsequent changes "improved" their design too much and future horns were nowhere near as good as the Holton or (I'm told) the first Meinl copy. I eventually wound up with this Holton in 1999. The link shows the tuba as it is today, 10 years after the Meinl refurb which buffed the satin finish off prior to replating with nickel silver. Take a look at how the 5th valve tubing is routed with the slide (!) accessable from the front, also the very cool hand rest which also protects the 5th valve linkage. With or without a 5th valve, if the Meinl copy is at all like my Holton, some fortunate person will have a very happy career using it!



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