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Ryan's FIRST OverhaulSince my dad started me off repairing when I was NINE, I thought it would be nice if Curtis' son got started sometime before age 10, and he did. He tore down the Junior Walker #4 Tenor a couple times and we did some straightening and dent work during that time.Ryan is quite mechanical and methodical, like his Dad. They analyze everything. They both stay cleaner doing dirty work than most people. I get dirty, watching. Ryan would hold the horn in position and I would hit the rod for a rebound and then I would hold the body and he would hit the rod a couple times for rebound. He had to learn to hit it HARDER. When he held it, he could put the ball right where it had to be. Especially, the D# guard lower leg and D# tone hole area. He brought the D# hole right up flat, so it didn't even have to be filed. Re-aligning the D# guard, we DID have to resolder the leg to the body, however. But, it looks good now; that is, Invisible. We used some of Ferree's NEW F44 No-Lead (94/6) soft solder, 94% tin. It works like 70/30, seems to melt about the same, etc. and at 94% tin and 6% silver, it is plenty strong enough. We straightened the rods using the "hole in the leather hammer handle" trick with the new compact N97 bench motor and aligned the posts using the other end of the leather hammer. The hardest part was raising the lower end of the rib that holds the top stack, down around the G#-F# area. Probably because there is a double thickness of brass there covering a wide area. Ryan broke loose several frozen screws using the proper screwdrivers. I could hear the screws 'popping' from my office about 20 feet away. He did not mess up any slots. He turned 10, a week before we took the horn to get it lacquered. Definitely a candidate for President in 2040. 
 Ryan is stoutly built, like his dad. Look at those forearms! 
 I think he only stabbed himself once. That's better than I did when I started. 
 Removing the bottom stack guard. The front of old #4. 
 Here is the horn all apart. Here is the neck fitted by the new H58. 
 The last key to come off was the low C#. Ryan muggs for the camera, finished. A note about the neck. Junior was always swapping around parts while on the road. So, Larry got the horn with no neck, no Hi E key and several springs "replaced". The closest I could come to an original neck at a reasonable price was, the wire brush finished, "Reference 54" model of which the bore is supposed to be identical to the original Mk.VI. This is most likely, the only factory piece of a current model that can be used on an older Mk.VI without a lot of modification. That's because, the factory told me that the only thing that was the same, was the bore. Still, the tenon was .035" too small (.89mm), so I expanded it with my H59 can-opener type expander. I went .0035 (.089mm) too far and had to shrink it back down to perfect with the new H58 Heavy Duty Shrinker. Smoooth.
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