THEO WANNE & TEAM

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!