The Vito YAS-23 serial numbers beginning with a 5 like 501000 starting in 1989 do not match the Yamaha YAS-23 serials but the Vito YAS-21 serials from 1970-1980 do match the Yamaha YAS-21 serials.Īfter 1980 the Vito serials don't seem to match.įrom the Yamaha serial numbers and purchase dates I've seen the Vito serials do match the Yamahas for the YAS-21 up to 1980. I could go on, and I frequently do - but I think you get the gist.The Yamaha YAS-21 serials match the Vito YAS-21 serials up until 1980 when the Yamaha YAS-23 is introduced but the Vitos still use YAS-21 parts until 1989 when the Vitos start using YAS-23 parts nearly 10 years after Yamaha introduced the YAS-23. Similarly, if you wanted to bring the Bis Bb arm down a little, you'd end up with the G# key holding the Aux. If you, say, needed to bring the bridge down a tad to ensure the G# didn't open when playing the bell notes, you'd slacken off the bolt, drop the arm down a smidgeon, retighten the bolt and.and you'd have brought down the Bis Bb arm as well.and now you have a spot of double action under your A key. The first is that you can't adjust the regulation of the Bis Bb and G# keys separately. It fools you into thinking it's adjustable by virtue of the pivoting bridge (secured in place by, yep, another bolt) - but if you try to adjust it you'll very quickly realise there are a couple of problems with it. This design, though, doesn't really work. Never did, never will.īeing able to adjust the buffers over the Bis Bb arm and the G# key cup is a wonderful thing - it makes life much easier for repairers, and it even allows the savvy player to make adjustments should they become necessary inbetween services.

The build quality is usually at least decent, and I guess there's a certain amount of inbuilt character simply by virtue of the sheer age of the instrument - but then again the design of the keywork probably won't win any awards for ergonomics, there might be oodles of wear and tear to contend with, and at the end of it all it may well be the case that horn simply doesn't play that well. To be fair, it's seldom the case that even a bad vintage horn is completely crappy. Thing is though, you might equally end up with a proper pile of junk - because even in 'the good old days', they still turned out some right lemons. This area of the market can be tremendously rewarding, and with a bit (OK, a lot) of research and some luck you could well end up with a 'Selmer killer' for less than the price of a professional quality mouthpiece. The best way to get around this annoying problem is go 'off brand' - to seek out those less well-known horns that aren't so popular, yet that have undiscovered potential.

Trouble is, lots of other players have had the same idea - and it's not uncommon to see sought-after vintage beauties fetching eye-watering prices.

Vito alto saxophone serial numbers