Only doing so in postbit will not change the rest, no. This is just right out of the top of my head, but what you could do is to make a plug-in at global_start (correct me if I'm wrong, anybody?) and use a str_replace() as to replace the variables. For instance, make sure to make your own variable, ie.
PHP Code:
$var1 = /*var of modification(s) or your own*/;
And use that as to replace the current one, ie:
PHP Code:
$find = $post[musername];
$replace = $yourvar;
$subj = 'Array of strings or so here';
str_replace($find, $replace, $subj);
Could be wrong as to the approach of method, but there should be a way to globally replace variables instead of ahving to edit each template.