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From: Wayland Harman
Production: JHG2005
Date: 12/31/2005
Time: 9:54:23 AM
Thanks to Mark Poss for his fine work here and for passing along my status. I read your comments with great interest, and though I have never broken a Humanitone I have cut a few up to use as parts and eventually constructed my own of wood and aluminum. Trophy Music has done a wonderful job of keeping this novel instrument alive through the years, however the instrument itself could sure use an upgrade. As nice as the sounds are from the little plastic wonder a perfect fit on the nose and a really clean and sharp fipple and bore will produce better tones, over a wider range and with less air. For anyone playing the plastic humanitone I recommend you file the flutes “edge” to be sharp across its whole width and that some means be added to perfect the fit to your nose. If you do make your own you can adjust the size of the edge width and opening length to create instruments that are easier to play in high and low registers. The proportions of the humanitones fipple and bore are just fine as long as you get the overall length to fit your face. Regarding the wonderful experiences of Mark Osterman’s sales; thank you! These accounts point out the validity of the instrument as an American classic, I would love to see the film. I wonder then if both the plastic and metal versions were available at the same time. I see a metal humanitone on eBay every now and again but don’t as of yet own one. My other question of Mark would be how many times if any someone took him up on the annual guaranty. I’ll bet there are a few great stories encompassed in the sales of thousand of nose flutes. My access to the Internet has recently improved and although it’s still sporadic I will make every effort to check back on this thread. I would love to discuss the nose flute further, and hope Mark can share more of his experiences. Wayland