The Story behind the Design of the Meinl-Weston 2155:

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(6/96) Warren Deck's love for experimenting with Tuba designs began in 1981 when he was able to acquire an old Conn Tuba formerly played in the New York Philharmonic by Fred Geib. Before 1981, Warren repaired brass instruments at Giardinelli's, a well-known music shop in New York City. There, Giardinelli's piqued his interest for building brass instrument parts, or, as Warren says, he learned enough to be dangerous. Before long, his passion grew for learning more and more about instrument construction. Trial and error experiments with Tuba designs soon became a frequent hobby. Within a short period of time, Warren set up a workshop set in the basement of his home, completely outfitted with a metal lathe and other brass tools he has acquired over the years. A major achievement for Warren was the Meinl-Weston CC-Tuba 2165, introduced in 1992. For more than fifteen years, Warren has reworked and refitted almost every part on the Tuba, including bells, bottom bows, lead pipes, mouthpieces and more. The question remains, how does a million possible combinations translate into a great instrument? The answer may never entirely be known, and it's the reason Warren hasn't stopped experimenting, even after innumerable Tuba modifications and the completion of the 2165. His next goal was to find a CC-Tuba that he could play in brass quintets with his colleagues. He needed an instrument with a leaner sound quality that would not envelop the group of five as the 2165 did, because it is meant for a large orchestra. On the other hand, the sound could not be too lean because it needed to balance four other brass players with very healthy sounds. Furthermore, he wanted a Tuba that he could recommend to his students that would perform equally as a great orchestral instrument as well as a quintet horn. Too often, Warren says, students are forced into playing an F-Tuba in quintets because their CC-instrument is too large for the group. Conversely, if a student has a small CC-Tuba that sounds great with a quintet, it is far too lightweight to play in an orchestra. During the summer of 1995, Warren visited the Meinl-Weston factory once again. In preparation for the visit, more than one year before, Gerhard Meinl sent Warren a Tuba bell so that the design process could begin. To the layman, one would think that a manufacturer could specify dimensions, reproduce them exactly and magically produce a great horn. It is not that simple, as both Gerhard and Warren will attest. Designing an instrument is an art form. It is somewhat of a visual process for Warren, as well as an intuitive process. By "looking" at the bell, Warren can "imagine" the body that should go on it and as a result "feel" the sound and response qualities. With invaluable assistance and experience from master craftsmen Ferdinand Kleinschmidt, Andreas Gambs, and Hans Hartl, Warren's culmination of experiments, concepts, ideas and drawings turned into an instrument. The result is the Meinl-Weston CC-Tuba 2155. It was a really fun and exciting project, Warren says, because the design is completely original, and does not use preexisting or previously manufactured parts, with the exception of the valve section. Enthusiastically, Warren describes the horn's major features: "The 2155 has all of the tonal qualities of the 2165, The sound is leaner (has less breadth), but easily expands as the player increases volume without breaking up or losing sound quality. Poor sound quality when playing loud is my major complaint with existing smaller CC-Tubas and is the reason I never wanted to play one .. until now." "The 2155 is also nimble, speaks quickly and is much friendlier than the 2165. Because of it's wide dynamic range, I plan to play the instrument for the New York Philharmonic's lighter repertoire programs, including Berlioz's Hungarian March, Franck Symphony in d Minor, Ravel and more." "The 2155 will most certainly ease the burden of the decisionmaking process for many Tuba students (and their parents) who can afford to buy only one instrument. I think it is the best solution yet to a problem that has been around for a long, long time." Note: In 1968, at age fourteen, Warren Deck's parents helped him purchase his first professional model Tuba, the Meinl-Weston "Standard" Model No. 32. He won the Houston Symphony audition in 1977 playing the instrument, and the Tuba was one of three played during his 1979 New York Philharmonic audition. Home Return to top of page