So,you're sitting at your workbench,but what.....

I listen to Clive Lewis at night while working on my modeling projects.Love the weird  Art Bell type vibe!

Axeman, I love Gary Moore. I saw him open for Rush back in the early 80's. He was amazing. He was so into it that he actually let loose a big ol' glob of drool all over his guitar in the middle of a solo. Then Rush came on, and wow!!

I listen to a lot of different stuff: punk (the Buzzcocks, the Stooges, the Clash, etc), new wave (Adam and the Ants, Echo and the Bunnymen, Simple Minds...), 70's classic rock (Mountain, West, Bruce and Lainge, the Jeff Beck Group, Deep Purple...), progressive rock (Blue Oyster Cult, Yes, Rush...). I also like the Cult a lot, and I listen to some classical forms, like Bach and Vivaldi (Baroque), Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Tchaikovsky - I tend to like the more melodic stuff from the Romantic period and earlier, as opposed to the more percussive and atonal works of the Modern era (though I do appreciate them in certain moods). Then there's jazz, blues and soul, probably my favorites. I love small combo jazz from the greats like Coltrane and Davis, Wes Montgomery and so forth (there's way too many to name), and the 50's and 60's blues from guys like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker, Magic Sam, etc. The stuff that probably gets me most is the Atlantic/Stax recordings from the house band "the Swampers". They were the musicians on all the great Atlantic soul records from folks like Aretha Franklin, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and others

First,I stand at my work bench,I never bought the stool and ended up liking standing.Yes I like it guiet,maybe sports talk on the radio or a ballgame of some kind.

"For Freedom Alone", a collection of Scottish songs about liberty, some bagpipe music I got off iTunes (just on that kick here lately), on Sunday nites it's pipe organ music on public radio, the rest of the time it's blues, rockabilly, etc on WEVL Memphis. Hard to believe I was a Guns n Roses guy back in the day...

Most of the time I listen to classical music - opera if I know the story well enough to get along without the libretto. Jazz and Broadway sometimes for variety. And I love to listen to audio books. Especially classics read by great actors. I've got an old cassette of Edgar Allan Poe read by Christopher Lee that almost makes my hands shake.

Baseball games!

"Power Metal" on Pandora (PC)

Helloween, Gamma Ray, Iron Maiden, Dark Moor and many, many more!!!

I knew it!!!

Though i made my living playing in the 80's(big hair and spandex lol)then,in the 90's after parenthood kicked in i didnt play live till my youngest was 6,but as told im always listening to something....this mornings playlist was an odd mix,Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double trouble,Benny Goodman,Glen Miller,....and Kings X

and Tojo72,I stand at my luthiery bench due to habit,but always sit when at the modelling bench......go figure

Most of the time it's classical on PBS with a little '40s style big bands, opera, Il Volo, and a smattering of German military tossed in.  That's what happens when your parents raise you to be a classical pianist.

Next time you're building German armor, try listening to "Panzerlied" in the background. 

Jim 

Axeman

I knew it!!!

Though i made my living playing in the 80's(big hair and spandex lol)then,in the 90's after parenthood kicked in i didnt play live till my youngest was 6,but as told im always listening to something....this mornings playlist was an odd mix,Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double trouble,Benny Goodman,Glen Miller,....and Kings X

and Tojo72,I stand at my luthiery bench due to habit,but always sit when at the modelling bench......go figure

For as much distaste as I had for the "hairbands"/glam rock...I sure miss those days! (Pretty much before I was old enough for the bar scene). I do like to catch Dee Snider's "House of Hair" nowadays, just for the nostalgia! Been a few years since I've been on stage with a full band. Very hard to find like minded people that can make a commitment these days, and can play what I write. I don't do much luthiering...just a couple new paint jobs (thanks to modeling skills!) and have built one guitar from parts.

I wouldn't call myself a luthier...more of an "assembler"! Silver edges are MM Metalizer BTW!

Had the guitar, scrapped the old neck, replaced with reverse headstock...made it "neck through-ish!"

...dropped in some EMG 81/85...SCREAMER!!!

fermis

Whoa !

Is that some exotic Klingon weapon? 

NICE ! 

awesome !!!

been building scale models sinc i was 8,and have always done my own guitar repairs and mods,but after the economic crash of 08 i had a chance to properly apprentice myself to a master luthier G.H.Reno,no money to speak of,but incredible skill building.....

anyway,heres a pic from the shop floor a few months back

I mainly build and repair solid body electrics,though I do enjoy the challenges of mandolin and violin repair...and i do a LOT of refinishing

Sprue-ce Goose

[

Whoa !

Is that some exotic Klingon weapon? 

NICE ! 

I like em pointy...and fast looking!!!

Bottom, right, same guitar, after it's first "make over" (was solid black....painted metallic charcoal grey), with Se-Dunc pick-ups. Top, left, Charvel "Avenger", in it's 3rd paint job. Other two are original, 'cept for the EMG's in the "King" (black one)

Looks like Axeman is making a copy of the legendary Gibson Moderne!

Typically 80's, either streaming from youtube or on itunes. Some classical mixed in. If I am really concentrating, then nothing.

Haha! I also do my own guitar repairs. I just fixed a Martin KOA with a bad veneer

I started playing when I was 14, and I'm 46 now. I used to play professionally for a long time. I even went out to California to try and make it in a rock band. I started out playing blues, then a friend turned me on to metal just as my teen powers of hair and angst were peaking, so it was a good match. I still listen to Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath a lot! I mostly like Sabbath when they had Dio - I love Ozzy's work with the group, and especially the stuff he did when he had Randy Rhoads, but I honestly think Sabbath's best lineup was when they had Dio and Appice - those two albums, Heaven and Hell, and Mob Rules, are incredible, it was their pinnacle work if you ask me

I used to play a Jackson for a bit, but the metal stint was only temporary. My tastes are just too diverse, and I always come home to my first love - the blues, it's really what I'm the most natural playing. I prefer the Stratocaster because of the geometry of it, but I'm partial to the humbucker sound, so I'm going the hybrid route. I haven't played in a while though. I had a lot of negative experiences when playing for money - several relationships ending badly, and lost a few friends to drugs. I think I burned myself out a little

i started at 11,and am now 52,most of my working musician years were 60/40 road time vs down time,during those times I worked as a trim carpenter,and when i wasnt too high.....i still did some modelling,and personally believe that my hobby helped keep me from a bad ending,cant say i miss playing in dark clubs much,the good times werent always so good.

BTW,awesome Jacksons!!,Ive owned a few  of them

I played this guitar,"Lady" through most of my years....

....and this afternoons playlist is...... the Stray Cats

I agree with ya, on the Sabbath stuff...not that I own any, but I can certainly appreciate it when it is on!

Randy Rhoads...HELL YES!!!

Also, I'd highly recommend checking out "Sabaton", if you are at all into metal...and war/military(aint we all!). The vocals took a while to grow on me, but the music is killer and the majority of their songs are a military history lesson and/or story.

Here's a decent example...

fermis

Sprue-ce Goose

[

Whoa !

Is that some exotic Klingon weapon? 

NICE ! 

I like em pointy...and fast looking!!!

Bottom, right, same guitar, after it's first "make over" (was solid black....painted metallic charcoal grey), with Se-Dunc pick-ups. Top, left, Charvel "Avenger", in it's 3rd paint job. Other two are original, 'cept for the EMG's in the "King" (black one)

MACH 5 at least.................

The Led Zeppelin channel on Pandora.

And like Tojo, I prefer standing at my bench. Keeps my back from getting sore.

Axeman

i started at 11,and am now 52,most of my working musician years were 60/40 road time vs down time,during those times I worked as a trim carpenter,and when i wasnt too high.....i still did some modelling,and personally believe that my hobby helped keep me from a bad ending,cant say i miss playing in dark clubs much,the good times werent always so good.

BTW,awesome Jacksons!!,Ive owned a few  of them

I played this guitar,"Lady" through most of my years....

....and this afternoons playlist is...... the Stray Cats

Explorers are pretty cool, as are Pauls...but damn, shoulder killers they are!!!

Love me some Brian Setzer!

What was you band?

fermis,in the 80's......Rude Society(Tx) Beast/Doxy (Ok) and Danger Brothers(Ks)

...and as for shoulder killers,well lets say that Lady is a good pound lighter than any Les Paul ive ever owned @7lb10oz

That Sabaton vid was pretty cool. I like them. They have a good, personalized sound. You can definitely tell they're nordic, but it's not too mechanical or grandiose - a lot of the nordic metal bands get a little too goofy for my personal tastes, especially with the satanic stuff. They kind of sound like what I would call a European version of Exodus - one of my favorite metal bands. The guitar playing was excellent and very well placed. That was one of the things about the band Slayer that turned me off, though I really liked a lot of their riffs, was the guitar solos often seem disjointed from the flow of the overall piece, and the solos themselves were just speed for speed's sake with no real coherent content. When you slow a typical Slayer solo down and analyze it, it's not very impressive, to me anyways. The soloing in bands like Exodus or Megadeth, on the other hand, are very artistically sound - again, my opinion, I guess

And that is one mean Explorer. Blue flake has always been my favorite color, especially with the black PG and chrome hardware. In fact, I have plans to build an HH strat in exactly that style, with a pearloid bound neck and pearloid blocks for fret markers. A fellow guitarist I played with in a metal band long ago had an Explorer, and you ain't kidding, that thing was heavy! I play a left-handed guitar strung right-handed, and back then I just picked up right-handed guitars and played them, so I ran into form factor issues constantly. The Explorer was one that I found actually suited a left-handed player possibly even more than the righties it was intended for, especially when playing in the high frets

There is an FM station in my neck of the woods that plays 50's, 60's 70's and 80's.  My wife and kids call it  "Grandpa FM".  Usually have that on at the bench.

movie scores sometimes in line with what i'm building. example  THE BLUE MAX if i am building planes

classical, streaming or classical FM station again sometimes in line with what i'm building  Russian composers if i am building soviet stuff...

surfing and beach songs,

New Age, Constance Denby, Tangerine Dream

my top 40 pop list

sometimes just quiet except for my tinnitus, my own white noise machine.

I have streamed music.

If it is Thursday afternoon and nothing else interrupts my bench time, I will stream Robert Conrad's show on crntalk:

http://crntalk.com/robertconrad

Sprue, do you mean Robert Conrad like in the actor?

I prefer silence or ordinary outside noise (since I do most of building in my garage)