Leblanc Vito V-40 clarinet

hobbyguy

Just getting started.

Hi, everybody! I'm doing this for my son who's in fourth grade and a friend who's been playing over 40 years. My friend also does repairs and overhauls on saxes, flutes and clarinets.
My name is Bernie Herbst and I think I may try to play as my friend Jack gave me a Cundy-Bettoney Cadet to strip and clean and rebuild, then to learn to play. I'm an older dad and love all kinds of music, I play guitar and piano.

The reason why I'm writing today is the Leblanc Vito V-40 clarinet, I've been totally unsuccessful in finding a range of retail prices for it. Today Conn-Selmer told me they took no historical information from LeBlanc USA when they purchased the company in 2003. My web searches have yielded a little information, such as bore size 14.85mm and the clarinet is thought of very well as a good to better instrument. Maybe a manufacturing time line of 1951 to 2003. I am sure of nothing at all beside the bore size and opinions.

I look forward to getting my friend to join as well and reading everything you all post about woodwinds so I may learn more.
 
All of the Vito line of horns are/were considered to be student instruments. As such, they would not be worth much more than $150 or so in good condition, less if they are the worse for wear.

However, the true value of an instrument is what it is worth to you. If the horn works well, then it's worth...well...whatever you think it is worth.

Unless, of course, you are fishing for an eBay bid setting point...
 
V-40 Retail

I'm just trying to fill in a hole in my research on the V-40. I'm building a table of retail prices for comparative purposes. I know retail price has nothing to do with the quality of any instrument. I just want to assign it a realistic price, preferably an actual price from any year. It seems I am able to find a retail price for almost all clarinets (old or new) on the market today, with a few exceptions. This is one of the exceptions. And there is the discounted price for everything on the internet these days. Except for the Ridenour Lyrique 146 which is $625.00. So If you know someone who might know a msrp for a v-40, it would be nice to have it. Thanks.
 
Check out http://www.woodwindforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=806. It's an easy primer on how to determine a monetary value for, well, everything.

FWIW, a lot of the Vito saxes made in France are generally NOT considered to be "student quality." Some are even relatively rare.
 
pete said:
FWIW, a lot of the Vito saxes made in France are generally NOT considered to be "student quality." Some are even relatively rare.
Click to expand...

Some "student quality" items of past days are actually quite good; in many cases they were "seeds" with the intention to bind the student to a brand even once they grow up. Many were produced as stencils by "name" manufacturers and were not studentish at all (eg Vito saxes made by Yamaha or Beaugnier).

(Maybe GM should have sold toddlers' trikes as a niche and seed product...)

I am not sure if the same can be said of today's student gear...
 
Well, if you're arguing that it's to develop "brand loyalty," I'd say the experiment failed, especially for US-made saxophones. I think it's somewhat valid for Yamaha and Yanagisawa, as they do make stencils for other folks (recently, at least). Several Chinese/Taiwanese lines do have both student and professional models, but they aren't necessarily manufactured even in the same plant.

Wait. I think Jupiter does own their own factories and do make both a student model and a professional model.

Anyhow, Yanagisawa doesn't really have a "student line." They have the 901, which I've never seen marketed as "student."

I've never really thought about it that much. It's interesting. I can say, though, if Conn was trying to build up name loyalty, they really shouldn't have ever made the Cavalier model. I've played two. Both very, very poorly made horns.

Clarinets, though, I think you can make a much stronger argument, but probably not with US-made instruments.
 
V40 Pictures from Leblanc/Vito Catalogue

Here are catalogue pictures of the Vito V40, I found it most interesting that they were grouped with the Pete Fountain models. I'm indebted to Musicians Repair and Sales for these pictures, thanks to Ed Fredericks for his help. Here is what he gave me on the V40:

1982 model [HASHTAG]#V42[/HASHTAG] $399.50 First listing
1983 model [HASHTAG]#V40[/HASHTAG] $415.50
1986 model [HASHTAG]#V40[/HASHTAG] $460.00
1994 model [HASHTAG]#V40[/HASHTAG] $605.00
1997 model [HASHTAG]#V40[/HASHTAG] $705.00
2003 model [HASHTAG]#V40[/HASHTAG] $825.00 Last Listing

I think from what Ed told me about the pictures is that they're from 1983/84. Right before zip code plus four came into being.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom