"Vito Special" alto sax

[rodelliot]

I just picked up a Vito Special alto sax today. Anyone familiar with these horns? It play really, really well. I believe that it was a Yanagisawa manufactured hown, but I may be wrong. The keywork looks very much like a Yani (Diablo maybe?) and the low B/Bb key guard definitely looks like the older Yanis.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Oh yeah, the serial number is 20628.

[WorldIRC]

Doesn't Vito use Yani stencils?

[Fred]

I know some Vito bari's are Yani's. And I think that some student level vitos are Yamaha YAS-23 stencils.

[pknight]

Just checked the Leblanc web page. All Vito saxes are classified by Leblanc as student models.

The origin of the current Vito instruments has been discussed at length in the past. The consensus seems to be that these altos are made by Yamaha. Gordon (NZ), one of the repair gurus who frequent SOTW, has reported that the parts of these Vitos are completely interchangable with those from Yamaha YAS-23s. I have owned both, and the only differences I could find were purely cosmetic.

However, older Vitos may have been made by other manufacturers. At least some older Vitos were made in France. I assume, based on the suggestion that it may be a Yani, that the "Vito Special" is stamped "Japan" somewhere on the instrument.

Many people assume that Yani manufactures all of the Vitos because here in the States Leblanc distributes both, so you often see them side-by-side in stores.

[rodelliot]

O.K. Here's a pic of the horn. This is not a Yamaha made Vito. This horn pre-dates those. Judging from the keywork and keygurads it's the Yanagisawa Diablo, another very hard to find horn.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-9/389261/Vito3.JPG

[rodelliot]

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-9/389261/Vito2.JPG

[SaxPlayer1004]

its true about then yamaha and vito. the 23's and modern vitos are made in the same plant. the older vitos from 20 years ago are the 901 stencils with the nickel plated keys. and the modern vito vsp baris are the 901's. not 901 stencils, but actual 901's. everywhere on the horn it says yanagisawa 901 except the bell. so save a grand and a half for a horn with lower resale and vito on it. but that definetly predates the junk vitos of today. looks much more like a yani diablo than anything ive seen.

[pknight]

rodelliot, I didn't doubt that it was made by Yani. My comments were about the newer Vitos, and the fact that older French-made Vitos are floating out there somewhere. If you search for info on Vitos in the forum you will find a general level of frustration with how difficult it is to run down information on older Vitos.

SaxPlayer1004, I'm not so sure that all of the Vito altos from 20 years ago were Yani stencils. A few years ago I owned an old Vito alto that was a stencil of a YAS-21, which would make it 25-30 years old. And, I must respectfully disagree with your characterization of current Vitos as "junk." YAS-23s (and the Vito stencils) are widely considered to be among the best student instruments. Certainly not pro-level, but good for what they are made for, and hardly junk.

[WorldIRC]

YAS-23's are great. I was the inhouse techinician for winds at my school....simply cuz I was quicker. Fixing those were easy cuz you didn't have to worry about the keys breaking.

[rodelliot]

The first sax I ever had was a Vito. I got it new in 1977 and it too was a Yamaha stencil.

pknight, you are correct. I can't find any info anywhere regarding this horn. It really is a good player though. I have it up on eBay and we'll see what the rest of the Vito buying world thinks of it.

[Fred]

20 yrs ago, the Yani 901 series saxes had not been developed. Neither had the 900 series. They were in the middle of their 800 series saxes.

[WorldIRC]

Yea... I think theres a Vintage Yani site that goes into this.. I can't find it though.

[Hurling Frootmig]

I vote against it being a Yani. Looks like a french stencil. Probably made by Beaugnier.

http://oldyani.home.comcast.net/ is the link for the vintage Yanagisawa site. I haven't worked on it in a while.

[jazzpup]

rodelliot, ....interesting horn for sure, thanks for sharing the pics. Can you describe the sound and your experience any preferred mouthpieces you've tried on it? Always interesting to hear of rare & unusual horns instead of the same old, same old ones:)

[pknight]

The first sax I ever had was a Vito. I got it new in 1977 and it too was a Yamaha stencil.

This was certainly a stencil of the YAS-21, given the date.

pknight, you are correct. I can't find any info anywhere regarding this horn. It really is a good player though. I have it up on eBay and we'll see what the rest of the Vito buying world thinks of it.

When I was buying and selling a bunch of altos a couple years ago, I would occasionally see these French Vitos crop up on eBay. You might try contacting Leblanc, USA (www.gleblanc.com). They are, and always have been, the source of all Vitos (the instrument is named for Vito Pascucci, the founder of the company). It is possible that the French Leblanc corporation made the French Vitos?

Also, is the word "Japan" stamped on the instrument anywhere? If not, then it is not a Yani.

[rodelliot]

Upon further review

This sax was made in France. So I guess we're back to LeBlanc. I've listed it on eBay as such and we'll see what happens.

Regarding playing characteristics:

The horn has a huge warm sound. I played my Jumbo Jazz A45 on it first (which makes everything scream!) and then I put a C* on it. Both mouthpieces produce very favorable results. The C* gave the horn a nice legit sound. The intonation is very good and action is good as well. The bottom of the horn speaks freely. I'd liken the overall sound to a Buescher Big B that I used to play, with a little better key feel.

Anyway, here's the eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3746893676&ssPage Name=STRK:MESE:IT

I also have a Selmer Modell 22 listed as well that's pretty interesting. The guy I bought it from though it was a Cigar Cutter. He was mistaken. It's still a pretty nice horn though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3746369398&ssPage Name=STRK:MESE:IT[/b]

[Tharruff]

Not meant to be a criticism at all...

As I was looking at the photos of your Modele 22, I clicked on one of them and I went, 'huh' ???

It took me a minute to realize that one of the photos of the Vito is mixed in with the Modele 22's photos !!!

[rodelliot]

Well then, that makes it a bird of a completely diffferent color!

I can't take the pic out now but I can make a statement in the listing regarding the pic ! Thanks for the heads up!

[jack lamson]

good news
the vito you have, depending on the ser. number could be like mine
i spoke to mike at leblanc trying to id mine, from the ser. number he told me it was a vsp, partly made in france and assembled in usa
in 1962 retailed for about 1200-1500 dollars
now similar horn could be around 3000, mine has just VITO on the bell
no engraving, but has the covers like the artist models not one cover over all three holes on the bell, two seperate ones, if yours looks like this
and its from the sixty's it could be also a vsp
not many made
mine sounds sweet and is in incredible condition
hope you enjoy your horn
:D