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Vito saxophones

Der Wikinger

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Silvis, IL USA
I bought a VITO alto a while back, but know nothing really about the horns. I don't really have any complaints. I paid $ 450 at a reputable shop, Musicgoround, and the horn looks brand new. When I tried it it had a few bent side keys, etc, which the local repair man Gene Gast, put right in just a few minutes. I suspect (but have no proof) that it was previously owned by a child that did not take care of it.

It seems to have good intonation, blows easily, and the key action is good, but the tone is not quite up to what I like (dunno if its me or the horn).

Do any of you have experience with a vito horn and also what is your opinion of these horns?
 
there are different vitos. Some by Le Blanc, some by yamaha, and I think some by others in the east. The yamaha made ones were straight student stencils. I believe the French ones were pretty good. And that's about all I know. You need to identify the maker/model, then start looking for comments on that. saxpics.com and sotw have some info.
 
The "original" Vitos were made by Beaugnier (which was owend by LeBlanc), and there were also Vitos assembled in Kenosha (USA) from French made parts. Leblanc have since had Vito branded saxes made by Yanagisawa, Yamaha and at least one other (probably Taiwanese) manufacturer. Try looking at this:

http://doctorsax.biz/vito_ser_nos.htm

I used to own one of the Beaugnier built tenors - I was silly to get rid of it.
 
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I had a Yamaha made Vito alto for a while, a hybrid YAS21/YAS23. Although it was priced and marketed as a student sax, it was an excellent horn. Light, snappy action, good tone, superb intonation and it was built like a brick privy. I only sold it when I got my Astro branded Yanagisawa A6 (still playing great, BTW, Griff).
 
Reviving this thread guys, l just picked up a Vito Duke tenor on fleabay USA. Seems in good nick, need to wait till it arrives to see it in person. Will give it a set up and regulated & report back to you's. Hoping it will make a nice giging road horn & to take into school without to much concern.
Looks like nickel plated? or l need my eyes checked.....hope it turns out as nice as Giff's 'Duke' he talks about above.
 
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350$ thats a snip! I love those horns and wish I still had mine :(

if anyone knows of one going cheap give me a call please
 
Hi everybody

While this thread is hot and after Chris sax saying he's bought from ebay usa has any one else had experience of buying from America on ebay because I have to say I have been very tempted by some of the saxes on offer...john
 
Hi everybody

While this thread is hot and after Chris sax saying he's bought from ebay usa has any one else had experience of buying from America on ebay because I have to say I have been very tempted by some of the saxes on offer...john

I have with camera bits. No problems so far, but be careful:

Many sellers don't know one end of a sax from the other. (Just look at how many get shown with the neck wrongly mounted, mouthpiece upside down...). Often they're selling from a bankrupt/deceased estate and know nothing about the goods they sell. Often saxes are misnamed as clarinets, wrong pitch and so on.

There's effectively no warranty, so budget for a check up and some fettling. And look really carefully at the photos - is the thing straight, what are the pads like, any serious looking knocks, especially by the toneholes. Evidence of crap repairs - like lumps of solder and so on? Make sure there's a clear shot of the serial number and any other markings. You don't want to get caught with a high pitch instrument that no-one wants...

Postage and customs can hammer the price up, especially if a shipping agent clears it on behalf of you and the carrier...

As for the seller look very carefully at the seller's feedback, especially international feedback, comments on packing and so on. Is it a paypal txn? I wouldn't buy anything from the US unless it was a paypal transaction, and the sellers reputation was rock solid/well documented - unless I was taking a VERY cheap punt.... I believe there are a lot of good decent traders on ebay, but the few bad ones tend to give the rest a bad name.

Avoid anything where the seller offers to make it as a gift - customs, at least here in Germany, are wise to the trick. To the extent that genuine gifts often need a proper paper documentation from the sender (e.g. email exchanges etc. ).

Net result is that the price needs to be vey low to cover all these risks, otherwise stay well away. Even so there are bargains out there..... Just not as many as people sometimes think.

Perhaps Pete could split the thread and make a separate one for buying on ebay/USA.
 
I was really stunned by the prices at Matthews Muziek in Holland. The prices on their website don't look so great once VAT is added on, but their eBay prices are dirt cheap (and you can probably get an extra 10% off with "Best Offer" plus another 3% if you do an international bank transfer). Now, I imagine that one could visit their shop 30 mins outside of Amsterdam to try out the horns, but "negotiate" eBay prices... They sell Keilwerth, Rampone, Yanagisawa, Yamaha and Selmer.
 
I know what your saying BEWARE!!!!but the draw is that when you see these American saxes for sale they are usually interesting horns like Martin committee's, King super 20's Beuscher 400's Conn chuberry's and the like all with lots of pics and descriptions and sometimes being sold by music stores.On the other hand I once saw a quality sax up for sale by a music shop being described as in great working order with a fabulous tone etc and lots of pics,the problem was that some of these pics showed the bow on both sides that clearly showed a hole going right through the sax as if a bullet had passed through it or someone had it screwed to a wall or something.

I was just wondering if any of our members were regulars to buying saxes from the good old us of a,and how the deals had worked out...john
 
I have with camera bits. No problems so far, but be careful:

Many sellers don't know one end of a sax from the other. (Just look at how many get shown with the neck wrongly mounted, mouthpiece upside down...). Often they're selling from a bankrupt/deceased estate and know nothing about the goods they sell. Often saxes are misnamed as clarinets, wrong pitch and so on.

There's effectively no warranty, so budget for a check up and some fettling. And look really carefully at the photos - is the thing straight, what are the pads like, any serious looking knocks, especially by the toneholes. Evidence of crap repairs - like lumps of solder and so on? Make sure there's a clear shot of the serial number and any other markings. You don't want to get caught with a high pitch instrument that no-one wants...

Postage and customs can hammer the price up, especially if a shipping agent clears it on behalf of you and the carrier...

As for the seller look very carefully at the seller's feedback, especially international feedback, comments on packing and so on. Is it a paypal txn? I wouldn't buy anything from the US unless it was a paypal transaction, and the sellers reputation was rock solid/well documented - unless I was taking a VERY cheap punt.... I believe there are a lot of good decent traders on ebay, but the few bad ones tend to give the rest a bad name.

Avoid anything where the seller offers to make it as a gift - customs, at least here in Germany, are wise to the trick. To the extent that genuine gifts often need a proper paper documentation from the sender (e.g. email exchanges etc. ).

Net result is that the price needs to be vey low to cover all these risks, otherwise stay well away. Even so there are bargains out there..... Just not as many as people sometimes think.

Perhaps Pete could split the thread and make a separate one for buying on ebay/USA.

I would pretty much echo alot of what Kev has posted. Iv got a few horns on ebay from the U.S & the only real problem l have had was the lovely UK customs peoples charge.
After l make contact with the seller regards postage to the UK, l ask them to forward me high detailed images of the sax where l ask for them to be taken. It is hard to tell without good pictures, and even at that it can be hard. You are really taking a punt on the horn and the seller. Seller rep is important to.
Happy hunting!
 
I bought a VITO alto a while back, but know nothing really about the horns. I don't really have any complaints. I paid $ 450 at a reputable shop, Musicgoround, and the horn looks brand new. When I tried it it had a few bent side keys, etc, which the local repair man Gene Gast, put right in just a few minutes. I suspect (but have no proof) that it was previously owned by a child that did not take care of it.

It seems to have good intonation, blows easily, and the key action is good, but the tone is not quite up to what I like (dunno if its me or the horn).

Do any of you have experience with a vito horn and also what is your opinion of these horns?

Well, Johnny Hodges thought enough about them to play one.

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw8De8fXzUQ&feature=related
 
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