Trying to identify Vito

[SpooN]

Im writing here under the yamaha section because i know that yamaha currently owns vito or something. i have an old vito, i can't tell how old exactly. what sparked my interest is that its made in france, and there are no other identifying marks on it. The bell has "vito" and a carving etched on it, but other than that, the made in france, and the serial number, there is nothing on it. Does anyone have any idea what my saxophone is? im pretty sure its a beginner model, but it plays fairly well, so i was wondering if it was intermediate or something. its more of an enigma, if anyone could drop some tidbits or a website where i could find more information, i would greatly appreciate it.

[madsax]

Ummm I don't think they own Vito...

http://www.gleblanc.com/newinstruments/yan/index.htm

Leblanc does.

[Gordon (NZ)]

Obviously there is a LeBlanc-Yanagisawa connection.

But there is plenty of evidence of a Vito-Yamaha link, also in clarinet design & naming.
What exactly is it? Minier would know but seems to have got fed up when his integrity was challenged by a certain individual, and left the forum.

And does this imply a current Yamaha-Yanagisawa link. I understand there is at least a historic one in the early Baritone design.

There must be an expert on this somewhere.

[Gaijin-san]

SpooN... Vitos ARE a mystery/enigma. The only thing anybody on this forum knows about Vitos are the current student line Vitos made from 1990 on. Nobody knows anything about vintage Vitos, or ones possibly made by Noblet... ones marked Kenosha Wisconsin, or those that followed that had no Kenosha marking but had the large oval engraving of Vito on the bell.

I have two of these older Vitos and it's like pulling teeth trying to figure out information on them. Nobody knows, nobody cares. All you'll ever hear is Yanagisawa this, Yamaha that... even for horns that were made well before either of those companies produced saxophones.

Do you sense any frustration on my part?? :)

[MS]

No espertise here, but I do recall at some point in history - a swap. Heresay was that Yamaha produced the Vito saxophone tubes for Leblanc, and Leblanc produced the clarinet tubes for Yamaha. Each company provided their own keywork, etc.

Any information regarding this rumor would be interesting. :D

[pknight]

My limited infor on Yamaha/Vitos:

Japanese-made Vito altos are made by Yamaha. This has been the case at lease since the days of the YAS-21, since I have an old Vito that has all of the unique 21 design characteristics. (Newer Vitos are the same as the 23.) Vitos are identical to Yamaha student altos except for the thumbhook. Vitos have a fixed thumbhook, while the Yamahas' are adjustable.

Of course, Vito altos made in France are not made by Yamaha.

I do not know first-hand if Vito tenors made in Japan are made by Yamaha. I have heard rumors that these are made by Yani, although I suspect that this is not the case because......

Many people think that Yanagisawa "owns" or produces Vito because both lines are distributed and marketed in the US by Leblanc. Thus, the US buyer sees both brands in the same stores, and in the cases sees the Leblanc name on everything. However, Leblanc just has a business arrangement to distribute Yani. They have nothing to do with Yani design or manufacture.

The Vito brand, however, is owned by Leblanc. It is named for Vito Pascucci, who founded the G. Leblanc (US) company after WWII, in cooperation with the Leblanc (France) company. According to the Leblanc web site (www.gleblanc.com), Leblanc manufactures the model 7140 alto in Kenosha, but the other two alto models (7131R and 7133) are clearly Yamahas (the Yamaha one-piece bell and bow key guard is a give-away). I can't tell from the pictures if the tenors are made by Yamaha (and I have never seen a Vito tenor in person), but they have the same model numbers as the Yamaha-made altos.

Another reason why I doubt the story that Yani makes the Vito tenors is the fact that, at least as far as I can tell, Yani does not manufacture student instruments, which all the Vito saxes are. Yamaha, on the other hand, obvioulsy makes student saxes, and certainly manufactures the Vito altos. I can't see why Leblanc would get their tenors from a second source, and especially one that does not market its own student line.

So, Yamaha makes at least some Vito saxes, and Vito and Yani share a distribution and sales network, but nothing more.

More than you wanted to know?

[Gaijin-san]

Ok... but what about the OLD vito saxes? Yamaha didn't even exist then in the music world.

[pknight]

ALL Vito saxes are/were marketed by G. Leblanc of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Contact them and ask:


G. Leblanc Corporation
7001 Leblanc Boulevard
P.O. Box 1415
Kenosha, Wisconsin 53141-1415 USA

Telephone: (262) 658-1644
General Fax: (262) 658-2824

[navyvet]

I don't know much, but I owned a Vito Bari way back when. Bought new in 1973 as a freshman music major in upstate NY on recomendation of my Sax professor. I loved that horn, wonderful dark sound. Still kicking myself for allowing my dh to make me sell it in 1992. At the time, it was considered to be the reasonably priced "copy" of the Selmers. Later on, I had heard Vito and Yanagasawa merged or something and then I heard it was all bought out or taken over by LeBlanc. I could have heard wrong though, but it sure was a darn good Bari!

[Hurling Frootmig]

Yanagisawa for a long time has provided their baritone as the Vito VSP. All of the Yanagisawa's that I have seen will have their logo on the horn either on the neck or near the serial number. The baritones generally will have the logo on the upper brace. If you don't see the Yanagisawa logo but you see the word Japan on the horn then it is a good bet that it was made by Yamaha.

[Alistair Scott]

Better late than never.
The Vito student tenor is a Yamaha YTS23. I know this for a fact because at the moment I have both.

[frobig]

Just to muddy the waters more, I have seen Vito altos that were definitely Jupiters, and Vito baris that were definitely Yanagisawas.You may take my word for this, as I've seen dozens of the Yamaha Vitos and at least a dozen Jupiter 667s, as well as dozens of ROK-made Evette altos and tenors which were also made by Jupiter, and Keilwerth ST90s, which were Jupiter stencils as well (still are). There are Japanese and Taiwanese Vitos in the catalog today, as well as an American made Vito on the website that you will never see in a store--they went pretty far in preproduction, but chickened out. The evidence is all over both Leblanc plants in Kenosha, and they deny nothing. And I've seen two different brands of French-made Vito baris, including one that had the Vito and Noblet stamps sharing space on the bell. The other one had a two-key low C, like a Holton Rudy Wiedoeft. Both French Vito baris were way out of tune. I've also seen ads for Vitos with the Systeme Rationale keywork from the short-lived Leblanc-branded sax, but I've never seen one of these Vitos in the flesh.

[bkiser]

The french Vitos were made by Beaugnier, as were the french Noblets. These are actually quite good pro horns! Intonation on mine is good as well and it plays with a nice tone. Push it and it develops a nice little buzz.

[jsmith2621]

I have a VITO alto which I believe was made in the 70's or 80's which has the "VITO" name on the bell and says "Japan" by the S/N 076638, but no model number. From the discussions above, I deduce that it is the same as the Yamaha YAS-23, but what model VITO might it be? I see references to both the 7131 and 7133 in other discussions. Is there any way of telling which, or possibly a different model?

[pknight]

I have a VITO alto which I believe was made in the 70's or 80's which has the "VITO" name on the bell and says "Japan" by the S/N 076638, but no model number. From the discussions above, I deduce that it is the same as the Yamaha YAS-23, but what model VITO might it be? I see references to both the 7131 and 7133 in other discussions. Is there any way of telling which, or possibly a different model?

Try contacting LeBlanc. The contact info is in an earlier message. There may have been some ownership changes since that message was posted, but if you can get ahold of them, they should be able to tell you. I was going to suggest that you call WWBW and ask them, but I see that they no longer have Vitos in their catalog.

[knighttrain]

You can find a lot more info on French & US-made Vitos by looking under the Beaugnier / LeBlanc sub-forum under Sax Makes & Models. BTW, I have three of these, a French Alto, a French Tenor, and a US Alto.

[gabrielgeus]

Vito has 7131R and 7131RK models...
Which one of those is the same as Yamaha YAS-23?
Are they different? What are the differences?
Thank's

[saxpiece]

The Vito 7131RK models are definately Yamaha YAS-21 and YAS-23 models because I found the LeBlanc Vito Yamaha Alto serials on this page http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/Equipment/HowOld/Leblanc.html and they are Vito 7131RK Alto serials going back to 1970.

I don't know for sure about the Vito 7131R models but they could be the same as the Vito 7131RK models.

I have a VITO alto which I believe was made in the 70's or 80's which has the "VITO" name on the bell and says "Japan" by the S/N 076638, but no model number. From the discussions above, I deduce that it is the same as the Yamaha YAS-23, but what model VITO might it be? I see references to both the 7131 and 7133 in other discussions. Is there any way of telling which, or possibly a different model?

It's a 1986 Yamaha Yas-23 Vito. http://www.doctorsax.biz/vito_7131rk_ser_no.htm http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=41544&page=2

The Vito 7133 is made by KHS/Jupiter.

[saxpiece]

And also the Vito 7131RK Yamaha Alto serial numbers apply to the Yamaha branded YAS-21 Alto saxes from 1970 to around 1980.
Around 1980 Yamaha seems to have changed from the YAS-21 to the YAS-23 and they started off a new sequential serial number count beginning from 0 for the Yamaha YAS-23 and therefore the serial numbers are different from the Vito 7131RK Yamaha Alto serial numbers starting at 1980.

http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?t=41544&page=2

http://www.doctorsax.biz/vito_7131rk_ser_no.htm