Re: Rudolf Meinl Tuba review
Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2024 8:32 pm
My HS (built for 1800 kids max and when I was there it had 5500
) in suburban Chicago had Rudys. It was an amazing band. The director was an ex-Navy WWII guy (had 2 ships shot up from under him including Pearl Harbor) and had spent time under Toscanini & Revelli. He very much directed and acted like them - it was intense but the group was superb - made up of a lot of kids of Lyric & CSO members. The Orchestra Director was a tuba player as was the marching band director (both former pros) and I assume that was where the desire to buy Rudy Meinls came from. One assistant band director went on to be chair of the music dept at Ohio State and another at Bowling Green. The Rudy’s all played differently. They bought a new one when I was a junior and handed it to me. It was a superb horn in all ways. For a Rudy the intonation was surprisingly good. Build (fit and finish) were excellent as were the valves. Glorious sound. The sound was always the first thing noted on judges sheets at the various solo contests I did in HS. The first one the school bought had intonation issues that made playing it a slide pulling extravaganza. The sound wasn’t as nice and it was a horn that did not like bad input, but it could be played well with some effort. The third one was a good horn sound and intonation wise, but it had some fit & finnish issues. They bought a couple more after I graduated to replace some Conn 25j’s. Those Conns were old, but pretty good horns.
We took care of those horns. The school got 45 years out of them. A new director several years ago replaced them with Yammies
I wish I had known as I would have tried to buy my old one back and had it restored.