Leblanc's history dates back to 1750, when the Noblet company was founded in La Couture-Boussey, Normandy, to make woodwind instruments for the court of Louis XV. Several generations of the Noblet family ran the business until 1904, when, with no heir, it passed to Georges Leblanc, who was himself the descendant of an illustrious family of woodwind makers. The next milestone is 1946, when Georges Leblanc's son, Léon, founded Leblanc USA with Vito Pascucci, a former repair technician for Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. This ultimately divided Leblanc's manufacturing between France and the US, with the latter focusing on the production of student models, including the popular Vito line of winds and brass. Sadly, the whole company struggled towards the end of the 20th century, and it was sold to Conn Selmer (not to be confused with Selmer Paris, a different company entirely) in 2004.
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