Misconception that Vito is made by Yanagisawa

[Jeff Willis]

Hi everyone,

I've seen a lot of horns being sold where they are described as a Vito
(made by Yanagisawa). This is not entirely correct, though. Yanagisawa is
partially owned by the LeBlanc corporation. Leblanc also owns Vito.
Yanagisawa does not manufacture ANY parts that are used on Vitos, however,
they may have contributed to the design of the instrument, that I do not
know. I'm not trying to say don't buy a Vito instrument, just know that
Yanagisawa only makes horns that say "Yanagisawa". All right, that's all.
Jeff Willis

[A. Wolman]

I'm not an expert on this, but I think supposedly some Vitos were at one
time made by Yanagisawa. Does anyone know if this is true?

Jeff Willis <jeffrw...@uswestmail.net> wrote in message
news:8ddV4.98$QB4....@news.uswest.net...

[Robert Steinberg]

Jeff Willis <jeffrw...@uswestmail.net> wrote:

> I'm not trying to say don't buy a Vito instrument, just know that
> Yanagisawa only makes horns that say "Yanagisawa". All right, that's all.
> Jeff Willis

Jeff,

I had 2 horns that said Vito that were made by Yani. There's a Vito low
A bari like the one I had on Ebay now. Look for the Yanagisawa lyre
emblem on the neck brace and by the serial number. The tenor I had was a
Vito VSP - same 80's vintage with the Yani big bell ring. It has a
Selmer style neck key and cheaper key work than on the 'real'
Yanagisawa.

A more correct statement would be not all Vitos are Yani. Some are
French Le Blanc, some are Yamaha 23, some are Chinese and who knows
where or what else. Yani at the time of the Vito VSP was also marketed
as a Martin.

RS
--
Robert Steinberg
MidiOpera Co.
http://www.evcom.net/~midiopra/
http://www.tcol.net/~midiopra/

[Jeff Willis]

Robert,

Thank you for your concern. I had the opportunity to visit the Yanagisawa
factory in Tokyo last month, and I toured the entire factory, mouthpiece
factory, and showroom. I did not see anything that had the name Vito on it.
They may have made some Vitos years ago, I don't know, but I put up the post
because I have seen a lot of people selling Vitos ranging from very used, to
brand new, and they claim that they are made by Yani so that people will buy
them thinking they are getting a cheaper Yanagisawa. They are not making
horns at the present under the name Vito.
Jeff
Robert Steinberg <midi...@evcom.net> wrote in message
news:200005192...@mia-tcr7-31.dyn.evcom.net...

[Steve Petrucelli]

Here are some additional thoughts

I own a Tenor Sax that I purchased NEW in 1975 that is what is known as a
"stencil." That is.... the horn is made by Yanagisawa, has the Yani
trademark on the neck and the body near the S/N..... But the engraving on
the bell is "Whitehall." The horn was distributed by Chicago firm "David
Wexler" and I have the original literature that shows the full line of
saxophones... alto, tenor..soprano, and bari all with the "Whitehall"
stencil.

And there are more examples of this as well.... So it would not surprise
me to hear about numerous other horns that were private labelled but Made by
Yanagisawa. By the way .... paid
$ 265 for the horn brand new ! Yes it is a MKVI copy, and for
comparison.... used MKVI back then were $ 600, and new MKVII was $ 1000.
Recently gave the horn to my son who has been playing alto for 3 years.....
still sounds good, and well worth the money. It was and is a good "step up"
horn.

All the best

Steve Petrucelli

Jeff Willis <jeffrw...@uswestmail.net> wrote in message
news:8ddV4.98$QB4....@news.uswest.net...
> Hi everyone,
>
> I've seen a lot of horns being sold where they are described as a Vito
> (made by Yanagisawa). This is not entirely correct, though. Yanagisawa
is
> partially owned by the LeBlanc corporation. Leblanc also owns Vito.
> Yanagisawa does not manufacture ANY parts that are used on Vitos, however,
> they may have contributed to the design of the instrument, that I do not

> know. I'm not trying to say don't buy a Vito instrument, just know that

[an...@frobigwindrepair.com]

On Friday, May 19, 2000 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Jeff Willis wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I've seen a lot of horns being sold where they are described as a Vito
> (made by Yanagisawa). This is not entirely correct, though. Yanagisawa is
> partially owned by the LeBlanc corporation. Leblanc also owns Vito.
> Yanagisawa does not manufacture ANY parts that are used on Vitos, however,
> they may have contributed to the design of the instrument, that I do not
> know. I'm not trying to say don't buy a Vito instrument, just know that
> Yanagisawa only makes horns that say "Yanagisawa". All right, that's all.
> Jeff Willis

The Vito VSP low A baritone sax was made by Yanagisawa and has Yanagisawa markings all over it. Also, Leblanc sold some saxes in the early '80s under the Martin name that were stencils of Yanagisawas. Yanagisawa did little or nothing to disguise this; the Yani logo is on all of these horns. Vito saxes have also been made by Beaugnier in France and KHS (Jupiter) in Taiwan, and Leblanc also assembled saxes out of knock-down kits supplied by Yamaha. In fact, if you see a Vito sax that was actually built entirely in Wisconsin, take a picture, because you probably won't see another. Yani was not shy about making stencils for a long time, but eventually I think they decided that stenciling watered their brand down. Over-stenciling is often blamed for the demise of B&S saxes out of Germany. I'm sure Yanagisawa didn't want to meet the same fate, so they stopped putting other brands' names on their horns. But there was absolutely a time when they made stencils, and Leblanc sold a number of them.

[rive...@gmail.com]

On Friday, May 19, 2000 at 2:00:00 AM UTC-5, Jeff Willis wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I've seen a lot of horns being sold where they are described as a Vito
> (made by Yanagisawa). This is not entirely correct, though. Yanagisawa is
> partially owned by the LeBlanc corporation. Leblanc also owns Vito.
> Yanagisawa does not manufacture ANY parts that are used on Vitos, however,
> they may have contributed to the design of the instrument, that I do not
> know. I'm not trying to say don't buy a Vito instrument, just know that
> Yanagisawa only makes horns that say "Yanagisawa". All right, that's all.
> Jeff Willis

This is a very old thread, but Jeff, just because you toured the factory on one day, and didn't see any stencils, doesn't mean Yanagisawa doesn't still make them. That's kind of like saying it didn't rain today, so it never rains. I have had 2 Yana made Vito Bari's, and they both rocked, and were both definitely made by Yana.

[rang...@gmail.com]

old thread I know sorry. Very interesting when talking about history of “holy grail” saxophones and Nazi zombies. Lol. I bet Yanagisawa covered up the secret entrance to their illegal Vito saxophone workshop/prohibition sake factory just as the tour began. Hahaha. I’m no Vito expert, but I think they stopped making vitos in the early 80s. Ya just missed them. Like 1960-80s, just before 900 models came out.

[Daniel Fabbio]

On Friday, May 19, 2000 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Jeff Willis wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> I've seen a lot of horns being sold where they are described as a Vito
> (made by Yanagisawa). This is not entirely correct, though. Yanagisawa is
> partially owned by the LeBlanc corporation. Leblanc also owns Vito.
> Yanagisawa does not manufacture ANY parts that are used on Vitos, however,
> they may have contributed to the design of the instrument, that I do not
> know. I'm not trying to say don't buy a Vito instrument, just know that
> Yanagisawa only makes horns that say "Yanagisawa". All right, that's all.
> Jeff Willis

I know this is 21 years old and incredibly out of date, but just in case someone happens upon this it's worth replying to. The claims made in this post are completely and utterly incorrect. Yanagisawa, along with Keilwerth, Beaugnier, Martin, Buescher, Conn, Holton, King, Malerne, SML, Selmer, Pierret, Dorfler & Jorka, Hammerschmidt, Dolnet, Yamaha, and so on, have ALL produced what are called "stencils". It's when a company who makes one thing, makes something for another company that wants the thing they make. In this case, we're talking saxophones. So yes, most Yanagisawa's will actually say "Yanagisawa" on the bell. However, some were imported under various brand names to regions under contract, particularly from the 1980s and prior to that. Others have mentioned some from the 1970s-80s Yanagisawas being branded as Vitos and Martins (at least in the USA), which is absolutely correct. Lastly, touring a factory or headquarters of any place of business neither proves nor disproves anything. That's like saying that when you went to the Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta there wasn't any Diet Coke, so therefore it must not exist. Lord.