I just found my replacement soldering iron heater, so I can finally begin work again on the new theremin prototype! There is, however a severe design flaw I noticed while replacing the element. Here are some pictures, it is really ludicrus:

Yep, the heating element needs to be SOLDERED in....... Please tell me how nobody in that company's sales or R&D discovered this case of the chicken or the egg. I had to solder it with an SMD heat gun, and the results were not pretty. HEat guns are not for through-hole soldering on a board full of wires.