Theo Wanne

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Theo's Biography

Theo is considered the world’s foremost expert on the design and manufacturing of saxophone mouthpieces.

As a child Theo was a traditional apprentice designing and building professional bicycle frames by hand. He learned to shape materials, braze, and jig at a young age all by hand. In 1987, he travelled the world living as a monk in Thailand and studied meditation in India. Eventually he got his college degree in ‘Musical Improvisation as a Spiritual Path’ at Naropa College in Boulder CO. Upon return to the USA, Theo turned his love of improvisation into becoming a saxophone repair technician and expert mouthpiece refacer under the direction of the legendary Master Refacer Bob Carpenter.

Theo worked long hours for many years turning thousands of vintage mouthpieces and saxophones into gems. Creating beautiful sound became his passion, and he soon became known as the ‘go to’ guy for vintage equipment. In order to share his knowledge of vintage & hand modified products, Theo opened Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven in 1998 in Philadelphia, PA, which became the world’s foremost knowledge database on saxophone mouthpieces. Much of that knowledge he has now shared on our current website, under the RESOURCES tab at the top of each website page. Theo shortly had a several year wait list for refacing work, and needed to turn away over 95% of the work offered to him. So in 2007 he started manufacturing his own line of mouthpieces and saxophones. He used the designs he had developed for his many famous clients, such as Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Eric Alexander, Jan Garbarek, Nelson Rangell, Tim Price, Grover Washington Jr., etc..

Theo wanted his products manufactured to the highest standards he had become known for with his hand refacing work. So he studied intensely the various manufacturing methods used in the past, and improved upon them for his products. This is why his products are made with such high quality. He also wanted every mouthpiece to consistently play according to the desired design. This is just not possible with hand facing, as most mouthpieces do not play as well as the ‘best’ hand faced version they are trying to duplicate. This is why the work Theo does with Matt Ambrose is so important….you get the consistently the highest quality and best design, as intended! Theo feels his life’s work is making products which allow each musician to access their deepest creative passions as easily as possible! He is constantly studying and innovating to better accomplish this life work!

1980 Theo developed metalworking skills as apprentice to Joel Jensen of Da Da Bicycles in Bellingham, WA.
1987-1997 Theo stayed at a Buddhist monastery in Thailand, and studied meditation in India. He later studied saxophone at California Institute of the Arts and studied mouthpiece refacing under Master refacer Bob Carpenter.
1997 Theo Graduated from the Naropa Institute with a BA in Musical Improvisation as a Spiritual Path.
1998 Theo Wanne learned saxophone repair in Philadelphia, PA with master repairman, Bret Gustafson of Gustafson Music.
1999 Theo started Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven selling thousands of vintage saxophones & mouthpieces. He refaced mouthpieces for Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Eric Alexander, Grover Washington Jr. and more
2001 Theo made Custom Link & Custom Meyer mouthpieces.
2005 Theo's first original production mouthpiece, the AMMA, was made using investment casting.

Company Timeline

2007 Theo registered Wanne, Inc. (DBA Theo Wanne™ Classic Mouthpieces) with his brother Tom Wanne. Theo filed five patents. The first fully machined AMMA mouthpiece was released.
2008 The KALI and PARVATI mouthpieces were released.
2009 The DURGA and GAIA mouthpieces were released. The PARVATI was discontinued. Stable-Wood mouthpieces were released.
2011 The AMBIKA Tenor Mouthpiece was released.
2012 The MANTRA Tenor Saxophone, and BRAHMA, DATTA, and MANTRA mouthpieces were released. The AMMA mouthpiece was discontinued.
2013 Theo became sole owner of Wanne Inc. The MANTRA Soprano Saxophone was released.
2014 Theo moved his company to new facilities in, Bellingham WA. KALI, BRAHMA and DATTA mouthpieces were discontinued. The SHIVA tenor mouthpiece was released.
2015 The Mindi Abair alto, GAIA 2 soprano, alto and tenor, NYBros alto, and Slant Sig tenor mouthpieces released.
2016 Company moved to a new location in Bellingham, WA. The MANTRA Fully Curved and Curved Neck soprano saxophones, AMBIKA 2, DURGA 3, SHIVA 2, and SLANT SIG 2 mouthpieces were released.
2018 The first ELEMENTS Series mouthpiece, the FIRE alto, is released
2019 The GAIA 3 Tenor; ELEMENTS Series EARTH and WATER alto mouthpieces are released. The MANTRA 2 Tenor, Alto & Soprano saxophones are released. The company moved to 1515 Fraser St. in Bellingham, its first purpose-built manufacturing facility.
2020 The GAIA 3 Soprano, Alto; DURGA 4 Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone; AMBIKA 3 Tenor; SHIVA 3 Soprano, Alto & Tenor were all released. The SHIVA Baritone mouthpiece was discontinued.
2021 The DURGA 5 Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone
2023 The AMBIKA Soprano, AMBIKA 4 Tenor, BRAHMA Tenor, SHIVA 4 Tenor were released.
2024 The BRAHMA Soprano, LAKSHMI, BRAHMA and SHIVA 4 Altos, BRAHMA Baritone were released.