Theo Wanne

Theo Wanne is an American saxophone manufacturer and saxophone mouthpiece designer.

Theo Wanne was born in 1967 in California, USA.

From 1980 to 1986, Wanne was an apprentice of Joel Jensen of Da Da Bicycles in Bellingham, WA. He designed and built custom professional bicycle frames by hand. Here he developed his metal working skills.

In 1987, he attended Macalester College for a year, where he studied music composition. He then traveled to Thailand, staying in a Buddhist monastery, and studied meditation in India. Upon his return to the USA, he studied at Western Washington University, followed by California Institute of the Arts where his focus was Jazz Studies on the Saxophone.

In 1997 he graduated from the Naropa Institute, completing a BA in Musical Improvisation. In 2007, he began manufacturing his own line of mouthpieces alongside his brother Tom Wanne. The corporation was called Wanne, Inc., with the DBA of Theo Wanne™. Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven became inactive; however, its extensive resource materials have been switched and updated to his current website. In 2009, he released his first fully machined mouthpiece using aerospace CAD CAM technology. He has five patents/patents pending. In 2013, Tom Wanne left Wanne Inc. to pursue other business opportunities.

In 2012, Wanne's first tenor saxophone, the MANTRA, was released. In 2013, the MANTRA Soprano Saxophone was released. In 2014, Wanne moved his company to new facilities to enable further development and innovation in mouthpiece design. A full re-design of his mouthpiece line came in early 2015, beginning with the introduction of the DURGA3, followed by the GAIA2, SHIVA2, AMBIKA2 in 2016.

In the period from 1987 to 1997, during his academic period, Wanne bought and sold vintage musical instruments to finance his schooling. He also studied the history and repair of saxophone mouthpieces with the help of Randy Jones of Tenor Madness in Iowa, and Bob Carpenter from Seattle, WA.

In 1998, Wanne relocated to Philadelphia, PA and repaired musical instruments with master repairman, Bret Gustafson of Gustafson Music. At the same time, Wanne bought and sold hundreds of vintage and his own custom mouthpieces, leading to the inception of his store, Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven, in 1999. Saxophone Mouthpiece Heaven became the world’s most comprehensive resource for information on the design and history of saxophone mouthpieces, and Wanne's mouthpiece work was becoming acclaimed around the Globe.

Paul Haar, of Jazz Times Magazine, said, "Wanne’s Web site was and is a historian’s vault filled with information."

Wanne worked with many of the world’s top musicians here, such as Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, Eric Alexander, Jan Garbarek, and Tim Price, and quickly became known as the leading expert in his field.

Wanne's line of mouthpieces is vast, and has undergone a number of changes throughout its history. Each model falls into one of four categories: True Large Chamber™, Core Sound, Classic Series or Artist Series.

The following list is current as of 2016

True Large Chamber™ Series

AMBIKA (2011-2016)
AMBIKA2 (2016–Present)
AMMA (2007-2012)
DURGA (2009-2014)
DURGA2 (2014-2016)
DURGA3 (2016–Present)
GAIA (2009-2015)
GAIA2 (2015–Present)
KALI (2010-2014)
PARVATI (2008-2009)
SHIVA (2014-2016)
SHIVA2 (2016–Present)

Core Sound Series

BRAHMA (2012-2014)
DATTA (2012-2014)
MANTRA (2012-2016)

Classic Series

New York Bros (2015–Present)
Slant Sig (2015–Present)

Artist Series

Mindi Abair Custom (2015–Present)

Mindi Abair
Gerald Albright
Eric Alexander
Jeff Coffin
Jan Garbarek
Courtney Pine
Chris Potter
Tim Price
Joshua Redman
Grover Washington, Jr.

George Young