Theo Wanne Water Mouthpiece for Alto Sax
Price: $275 US through the Theo Wanne website in Jan. 2021. Dealer prices may vary.
Date of manufacturing: Circa 2019
Date of review: 2021
Set up: Selmer Mark VI # 73XXX alto, gold-plated Forestone lig. & Rigotti Gold Classic or Légère Signature Series reeds.
If you’re like most saxophone players, you suffer from a constant obsession with finding the perfect mouthpiece. While there is definitely an argument to be made for having that one mouthpiece that is versatile enough to play almost any genre of music convincingly—such as cost effectiveness and convenience—I have always preferred to find the right tool for the job,
What “Everyone” Should Use
At university I had been using a Selmer S80 C * mouthpiece. The standard go-to for classical players—and the one my sax professor insisted everyone should use—paired with 3½ Vandoren Blue Box reeds, whether it suited that player or not. I can say that I definitely fell into the NOT category.
Leading up to my auditions, my teacher had lent me her Vintage Selmer Soloist style scroll long shank in an “E” tip opening, which was richly sonorous and resonant, and complemented my violin-like sound. After this the S80 felt pinched, resistant, and lacking in warmth. Needless to say I have been searching for the right classical mouthpiece set-up ever since.
Other Pieces I Tried Before the Water MP Arrived
Before trying the Water mouthpiece, I play tested a couple of other mouthpieces. First up was a Selmer Concept alto, which also happens to my clarinet mouthpiece of choice, and then a D’addario Reserve. While I did find both of these mouthpieces to be an improvement over the S80 in sound quality as well as response, I can’t say that it was enough of an improvement for me to shell out the extra bucks to actually purchase one, and so I was eager to see how the Water mouthpiece would measure up.
Theo Wanne’s Description of Their Water MP
This is how the company describes their water MP:
The Theo Wanne™ WATER mouthpiece has been in Research and Development for over four years. The sound concept of the WATER is unlike any other Theo Wanne™ mouthpiece; it is designed entirely for the classically trained musician….
You will find a rich beautiful core to the sound, in fact, richer than any other classical mouthpiece we tested vintage or new. This is intentional and due to a truly unique small chamber/throat that compresses the airstream. Theo’s new design technology channels the compressed air stream into the saxophone neck tube in a unique way resulting in a sound richer, and not pinched, like other small chamber designs.
The Shark-Gill™ Baffle developed by Theo is also very unique. It both channels and disrupts the airstream at the same time. This is similar to the flow of water over a shark’s skin allowing it to travel faster. The air fills up the full volume of the small chamber/throat more efficiently.
You will find the WATER to have enough resistance for the classical musician, yet it never feels clogged or like you must fight the mouthpiece. The WATER comes only in size 3. We are very proud of this very unique design in the Classical Mouthpiece World, and hope you enjoy it as much as we do. As part of the new Elements Series, this mouthpiece has ALL the Theo Wanne™ quality, yet we can offer it at a very nice price, and the Elements Series is already winning awards!
SOUND
The ultimate classical mouthpiece.
The most expressive traditional sound you’ve ever heard!
Retains the resistance and body to the sound classical musicians require.DESIGN
Small chamber for a full, yet clean yet articulate sound.
Theo Wanne’s proprietary Shark-gill™ baffle.
Crafted to the highest accuracy in the history of classical mouthpiece history; perfect side and tip rails!
Designed by Theo Wanne, the foremost expert on the design and manufacturing of vintage mouthpieces.Source: theowanne.com
My First Impressions of the Theo Wanne Water MP
Right from the first moment of playing this mouthpiece, I was struck by the incredible lack of resistance and easy playability. As someone who isn’t primarily a classical player, I really don’t want to have to put in constant hours of long tones in order to get my classical mouthpiece to work for me. I was surprised how effortlessly the notes seemed to flow, despite the small chamber and #3 tip opening. This is perhaps due to the unusual Shark-Gill™ baffle.
Further Testing
After further testing I found that the response remained consistent throughout the full range of the horn, with low notes speaking easily, even at very soft dynamics, and palm keys popping as readily as mid-range tones without losing control, or becoming crass or screechy when raising the volume. Despite this the mouthpiece lacked no ability to project, and most importantly was able to retain its tonal core well into the fortissimo range while consistently producing a deeply rich and resonant sound and consistent intonation.
Testing On An Intermediate Player
Finally I wanted to see if the mouthpiece would work just as well for an intermediate player, so I decided to try it out on one of my students with whom I’d been working on RCM testing. I went through the same steps of making a comparison with the D’Addario Reserve and the Selmer Concept. Both of these mouthpieces did provide improvement over the Jupiter stock mouthpiece he’d been using, but also proved to be a bit of a struggle for him.
Now while this no doubt could be overcome with some regular long tone work, the Water mouthpiece proved no struggle at all and produced an instant and dramatic improvement in tone quality and resonance, as well as response. His reaction summed it up pretty well when he told me with a big grin, “oh my, it sounds sooo nice.”
Ligatures And Reed Set-Up
I tried the Water mouthpiece with some of my various ligatures: a Rovner Versa, Vandoren leather ligature, a gold-plated Brancher, a gold-plated Forestone, a basic brass Selmer, as well as a Vandoren Optimum Ligature that I had on loan from King’s Music. I would definitely say that I far preferred the brass ligatures over the cloth and leather, as I felt that they allowed the reed to vibrate more freely and gave the richest tone .
The Vandoren Optimum Ligature probably gave me the best result with the Forestone coming a close enough second that I decided to stick with it for the time being, rather then spending the extra bucks on top of the cost of the mouthpiece. However, I will probably purchase the Vandoren at some point in the future.
Among the reeds I tried which included Vandoren blue box, D’Addario Reserve, Hemke Premium and Marca Superieure, I found I got the best results with Légère Signature Series reeds, and Rigotti Gold Classic.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion I would say that the Theo Wanne Water mouthpiece is the best and most playable classical mouthpiece I have tried to date (which includes my teacher’s vintage scroll shank), and I wasted no time in purchasing it. I would readily recommend this mouthpiece to any players from intermediate to professional level alike, who are looking for a rich and authentic classical sound.
Late-breaking News from Theo Wanne
We just received word from the General Manager at Theo Wanne that in the next couple of months a new and more affordable version of the Water Mouthpiece will be available. This $99 mouthpiece will allow shops and teachers to get their students playing on a state-of-the-art classical mouthpiece at an affordable price.
The flatter your reed and the table of the mouthpiece are, the less the ligature matters. It used to be the norm to put a slight dip in the table, and with the variance of cane reeds, that means how the reed is attached to the mouthpiece can have a significant effect on the sound, not to mention the reed possibly getting knocked crooked if it’s not tight enough. But with a modern (flat) table and a synthetic reed, there are no longer a lot of variables for a ligature to wrangle. That’s not to say there’s zero difference, but it’s much less of a factor than it used to be. Convenience and looks now enter into the equation more and more. Fortunately, many of the good looking options work just fine.
Now if you occasionally switch back to cane reeds, ligature hunting may be worthwhile. But don’t assume the ligature that works best with cane is the same one that works best with synthetics. Sometimes this can even vary from brand to brand, cut to cut, reed to reed, or even day to day as reeds age and humidity levels change.
Thanks for the fast replay. The calcium is indeed the problem as it causes dental plaque in the mouthpiece, which is difficult to remove.
Fast cleaning and incidental cleaning with white vinegar are my preferred methods.
Oh ya, Ilona is much faster than I am. I must apologize for my tardiness. I was looking through comments, and I realized you left some weeks ago I hadn’t even seen…. Not sure what happened…
Huh, getting back on point, 😉 I have never had the problem of whiteness building up on my HR mouthpieces. I wonder why? Must the chemical makeup of my spit… Interesting…
I just have dish soap. That’s what I’ve used for 30+ years to clean all my mouthpieces. That and Q Tips. Recently I got some really soft MP brushes from work that are also fantastic. But always very mild solution of dish soap… Must be all the clean living I do. 😆 😆
Its night, there is a lockdown and a snow storm, the house work is done, so it is a good time to write down my thoughts on cleaning mouthpieces.
Dental plaque in mouthpieces is difficult to remove when it becomes hard. A toothbrush will not do the job. IN a workshop on spit and tears (not saxophone related, just work) I learned that it hardens in 24 to 48 hours. So direct cleaning is the best method to avoid build up.
There are some home remedies for cleaning dental tartar as peroxide, baking soda/salt and vinegar. They all work but this discussion made me curios how safe they are for rubber mouthpieces. In a handbook for rubber seals none of these methods are completely safe. So I stopped cleaning my mouthpieces with vinegar. Back to soap and water.
That is a real innovation. A classical low resistance mouthpiece.
The only example of a similar idea I could find was from around 1900 by Sudre for French horn mouthpieces.
But in this case the reed makes a difference as it can float on the airstream.
Is the ribbed section easy to clean?
That’s a good question. The ridges aren’t that deep, and generally pretty easy to clean. I usually dry my mouthpieces with a tissue when I’m done playing to reduce build-up and calcium deposits. For cleaning I use a 1 % solution of food grade hydrogen peroxide with a Q-Tip, which makes it easy to get into the ridges. Seems to work pretty well.