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Jr. Walker's TenorAutry DeWalt ( b. June 14, 1931; d. Nov. 11,1995) was a customer of mine for many years. I sold him 3 or 4 Mk.VI's and worked on all SIX of them that he had. He was very KIND to his horns because, he realized he made his living with them. Junior used different names at different times throughout his life. We used to joke about it, but I really didn't care what name he used or for what, as long as he paid his bill. Which he did. He had about 24 albums and many top hit singles. The two most popular got up to #4 on the pop charts and he had several at #1 on the R&B charts.He and I had an agreement from the very first day. "He plays 'em and I fixes 'em." Plus, he and I had a pre-arranged maintenance schedule so, that we would NEVER have any disagreements; and we didn't. Starting with a new horn, I would regulate it. He would play it until it wouldn't play any more, then I would do a 1/2 Repad. (The top half of the horn and the low D#, that's 12 pads, HALF!) Then, he would play it 'till it wouldn't play again and I would then do a Complete Repad (or what some would call a Mechanical Overhaul- key fits, key corks, necessary springs, neck cork, minor dent work if necessary, lacquer bare spots; whatever it took). Then he'd keep it till it wouldn't play again, and I'd do another HALF on it and then the next time; a Complete Overhaul, dents, buff, lacquer, EVERYTHING! Then, we would start the whole thing over again. We would do this on all 6 horns, ALL Mk. VI's, simultaneously. Yes, I kept track. Now, eventually, wear would become a factor. I overhauled the #1 horn, ELEVEN (11) times. (Not a misprint.) That means; 22 repads and 44 half repads. Just on THAT horn. (approx. 56,000, I threw my list of numbers away when he died.) Seems like I always had one of his horns in the shop. Eventually, we had to Gold plate the old #1 because the pads started to hit on the body. So, I told him, "NO more overhauls on this horn, we gotta go GOLD!" Back then, it cost almost $600 at the plater's, JUST for the Gold, PLUS for the overhaul. He didn't like it and neither did I. It was a lot of money for him, and I gave him the gold for whatever Anderson charged me and the shipping. Didn't matter to me, I got the labor. I gave him the gold for cost and worked on all his horns all the time. I kept records in case anything ever came up. Nothing did, in 30 years. I remember once, he came in with the #2 horn (approx. 79,000) I had just overhauled the week before. He gave me a sheepish grin as he unsnapped the case. "I dropped this down by Charlotte, in North Carolina, from about 12 feet up off the stage." he said, "Whud ya think?" I said, "Junior. You are always good for my business, no problem." This was several years before we gold plated old #2. You will always know #2, because the metal from the inside radius of the bottom bow, goes straight in a line to the top inside edge of the Low C tone hole, no recess at all, a straight line; because, that was the only way I could round up enough metal to raise the tone hole up and NOT have to file most of the rest of the tone hole down to make it level. I have an aversion to removing metal from a horn. I prefer a few scratches to a thin body. Another time, he came in and wanted a price on a new horn with a high F# on it. ( I never understood why, he could play about a full octave above that using high harmonic techniques; like from Ted Nash.) But, not liking the price nor the way the new ones played at the time, he wondered if I could "solder on the stuff" to make a hi F# work for him on a horn he already had and liked. So, he brought in #3, (approx. 89,000) I ordered the key parts and some extra posts and 'stuff'. When I got the 'stuff' in, I had no idea of where to put the hole. So, I took a survey of nature; measuring 3 or 4 other Mk.VI's that were born with hi F#'s and guess what! They were ALL different! I mean a lot different. So, being scientific about it, I added them all up and divided by how many and THAT was where I made mine. A new average location, more accurate than all the rest. Now for the hole. I took mechanical drawing in Jr. High, so I just did a quick layout, allowing for the radius of the body, there would be two tall sides and two short sides around the hole. So, I wound up with a slot about 1/16" to 3/32" wide and maybe 3/8" long, all centered on the magic equation mentioned above. I used my J20SS type round nose pliers and then a tapered mandrel, to open and raise the material up until I could get an N35 Right angle expander in there and then proceeded to DRAW THE HOLE up until the inside diameter was the average diameter of the rest of them. I'm not kidding, no more that 4 or 5 swipes with a new E29A tone hole file and the hole was level and I was done. I machine finished the posts using a pivot screw countersink, I relieved the bottom of the pivot screw ball portion of the post with a E81 tone hole pad seat file and soft soldered them to the top of existing posts using 70/30, tin/lead solder. The horn played in tune and well and the soft soldered-on post balls were never a problem.  The #2 and #3 horns, which were BOTH eventually gold plated, have my name engraved within the rope engraving on the bow to bell bands on the back side. You can see it on one or two of the CD photos. You may need a 10X loop. But, I saw it with my naked eye when I was in Finland 20 years ago. They also have a 24K brick engraved on the bell. The #1 horn doesn't have my name on it, but it does have some other doodles on the bell; an inch high JW in script and some other things. 
 That brings us to #4, (112,204) which I sold him in the summer of 1974. How I know this is, that when Larry Brown called me up, he told me that that was what Selmer told him. He gave them the serial number of the horn Jr.'s family had given him per Jr.'s request upon his death. Larry Brown was a stage door acquaintance of Jr.'s that he took a personal interest in and started giving him private saxophone lessons whenever he was in New Jersey or close by. Larry was just 15. 
 Today, Larry is 52, a long haul semi-tractor trailer driver and has been active for several years in trying to get signs erected at both ends of Jr.'s home town designating it as the "Home town of Junior "ShotGun" Walker", a.k.a. Autry DeWalt, Autry DeWalt II, Autry DeWalt, Jr., Autry DeWalt Mixon, Oscar G. Mixon or Autry DeWalt Walker, Jr. Larry is dealing with the City Council, the Road Commission, 'ad infinitum'. That is why we are doing the horn. Old #4. What better horn for Curtis' son, Ryan to claim as his first real repair job. It will be redone in Genuine Gold flavored Nitro Cellulose lacquer just as the original was.
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