![\"saxophone,](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bassic-sax.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Vito-Engraving-On-Bell.jpg?ssl=1\" "\\"Vito")
<\/a><\/p>\nSource: ebay.com<\/span><\/p>\n The upper octave key has a snake’s head complete with diamonds in its eyes.<\/p>\n Source: ebay.com<\/span><\/p>\n The alto is covered in rich engraving, and has extra inlaid mother of pearl key touches on the right and left palm keys.<\/p>\n Source: ebay.com<\/span><\/p>\n Source: ebay.com<\/span><\/p>\n Source: ebay.com<\/span><\/p>\n As you can see in the above photo, this horn has a combo of brass and silver. However, it is exactly the opposite of the King Silversonic<\/a> horns. Whereas they had solid silver necks and bells, along with brass body tubes and bows, this horn has a silver plated body tube and bow (according to the seller), combined with a brass neck and bell. I wonder why? It does seem rather counter-intuitive.<\/p>\n As mentioned at the start of this article, this particular Leblanc-stencilled Vito alto that is currently being offered for sale on eBay<\/a>, apparently once belonged to jazz legend Johnny Hodges. The seller attached the following photo to the auction, in which Hodges appears to be using the instrument for a recording session.<\/p>\n Source: ebay.com<\/span><\/p>\n Just for reference, here are the 3 models of Leblanc saxophones.<\/p>\n This Leblanc-stencilled Vito alto is a Leblanc System saxophone<\/a>, not<\/strong> a Leblanc Rationale<\/a> as the seller stated in this ad:<\/p>\n I am extremely proud to offer one of Johnny Hodges’s personal alto saxophones, owned and played by the jazz giant from The Duke Ellington Jazz Orchestra. Over the years Johnny Hodges played a few different horns including another one with a snakes head on top of the octave key.<\/p>\n We believe this horn came along later in Johnny Hodges’s career.<\/p>\n It is currently owned and played by another jazz great Frank Wess who acquired it from Johnny Hodges’s estate.<\/p>\n The horn has been lovingly cared for, professionally maintained and kept in perfect playable condition by Tomoji Hirakata in NYC.<\/p>\n I found one photo of Johnny Hodges playing the horn.<\/p>\n The photo is in a book called “Jazz Giants” A Visual Retrospective compiled by K.Abe<\/p>\n the photo was taken by Arthur Singer in 1967.<\/p>\n I’m sure you will recognize the other people in the photo !<\/p>\n Frank Wess purchased the horn from Johnny Hodges’s widow. (this is the story according to Frank!)<\/p>\n Frank played this horn while he was with The Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band.<\/p>\n The best information I have is the horn was made and engraved by Beaugnier (France) and then, maybe assembled in the US.<\/p>\n The key system you can call \u201cLeblanc Rationale\u201d System.<\/p>\n The Johnny Hodges horn is a Leblanc Rationale with the Vito name on it. The Vito model had all adjustments by cork; the Leblanc had the fancy set screws and small nuts throughout for registration. The Rationale system was described as “The Boehm system for sax”. The design was by Hovenhaghel in the 1930’s but never caught on. It allows many alternate fingerings. Do doubt something Johnny Hodges was keen to make good use of.<\/p>\n It is silver plating over the brass.<\/p>\n I found one tone hole that does not have coating on and it has green stuff. (it\u2019s clean now)<\/p>\n This green stuff is a byproduct of prolonged human contact on untreated brass.<\/p>\n As you can see in the photos it has been cleaned and restored.<\/p>\n Brass can be : Yellow brass 70%copper, 30% zinc<\/p>\n Red Brass 85% copper, 15% zinc.<\/p>\n And Nickel Silver 67%copper, 18%nickel, 15%zinc.<\/p>\n Please view the photos and you will see this horn has been meticulously maintained and is not just a flawless musical instrument but it is also a work of art. “Johnny Hodges” is engraved inside the bell.<\/p>\n Yes, there really are diamonds in the eyes of the snake.<\/p>\n The white mouthpiece with Johnny Hodges’s name etched on the side is included in this sale, as is the case. It is the original Leblanc case.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here are the remaining photos of this Leblanc-stencilled Vito alto:<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n Source: ebay.com<\/span><\/p>\n BTW in case you’re interested, as the seller mentioned this is a re-list. The original auction ended on June 1<\/a>. The prices then were: $150,000 as an opening bid, with a Buy It Now price of $200,000. Update: This saxophone is no longer available! This article is here only for historical value. When it comes to a saxophone one of your idols …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[625,172,653,149,340,633,218,198,643,31,136,197],"class_list":["post-37714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alto-saxophone","tag-alto-saxophone","tag-custom-horn","tag-famous-not-so-famous-sax-players","tag-french-saxophones","tag-leblanc","tag-musings","tag-stencil-horn","tag-stencil-saxophone","tag-vintage-horns","tag-vintage-sax","tag-vintage-sax-resources","tag-vito"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> Kinda’ makes John Coltrane’s Yamaha alto for $115,000<\/a> look like a bargain, doesn’t it?<\/p>\nNote: This article was edited at the request of the family. July 2019.<\/h4>\n