Julian writes:

I just finished a wee experiment which you may find interesting...or at least banal. I love the full sound on the Soodlum "C" and "D' but my "C" had a tendency to squeak and was quite unpredictable when descending from the upper octave (probably just my own clumsiness). But I was smitten with one of those bizarre ideas that I normally get when depressed (my vehicle broke down again & the tow-truck guy still hasn't taken it in) sleep-deprived and generally dazed & confused. I have several SweeTones, one of which has a minor problem and wasn't being used. I pulled off the "Copeland designed" fipple from the SweeTone, put a few windings of Teflon tape around the top of the Soodlum tube until I got a very snug fit and added a touch of urethane sealant at the base of the fipple. Granted, it won't win the "Beauty in Design" award (unless Luddites are giving them out this year) but the sound is lovely, even in such awkward hands as my own. It has the sweetness and fullness of the Soodlum but the ease of control of the SweeTone, and I'm enjoying it immensely. Not that I suggest you go and behead any of your whistles, but if you ever have the chance to try it out, you might find it a pleasant surprise.

This issue of The Journal will undoubtedly be discussed for generations (no pun intended) to come, as we publish news of the first publicly acknowledged head transplant. The article will thrust into the history books one Dr. Julian, who reports his findings here, while awaiting extradition to the United States from an unknown South American hideaway.

For years, whistle surgeons, as well as musico-science fiction writers and even the general public, have debated the feasibility of the head transplant...the successful grafting of the headjoint from one whistle to another whistle body. As Dr. Julian indicates, the apparent impossibility of this surgery was overcome by one of the most enormous technological breakthroughs of the century: The invention of Teflon tape. (For further reading, see Scotch, Duct, & Teflon--The Trinity of Tapes and The Coming Millenium by D. W. Wisely, New Millenium Books: Birmingham, Alabama, 1997.)

What will this new age bring? Better instruments through surgical hybridization (A Generation-Feadog? A SweeTone-Thin Weasel? A Walton's-Generation? A Susato-Olwell? A Howard Copeland?) or a whole new flood of musical-medical nightmares (A kazoo-harpsichord, a flute-banjo, a nose-blown Sitar?).

DWW

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