Love is hot, truth is MOLTEN!!

I love BBC 6 Music, a digital radio station staffed by dj s who are true music fans. Most of them are musicians or have been in bands. Also they have access to the BBC library of live sessions, which often turns up some mega tracks.

Getting into the workshop for 0730 with a cuppa and Shaun Keaveny on BBC 6 Music for company. Sometimes Shaun can't hide the fatigue in his voice as he hauls himself in for the breakfast show and often I worry that he's on the edge of tears :) But thats why i like him, he may rue the fact that he's now a pilates loving, smoothie chuggin class traitor, but hes an ordinary fella who loves his music and is amusing company in the mornings. Plus, you know hes gonna hit you with some Led Zep at any moment.

click here to hear me speaking to Shaun on his 'Toast the Nation' feature:

10am and its radio off and the CD player on.

The past year has been dominated by arts and crafts vampire Bat For Lashes; folk-mouse Laura Marling and thespian poet Johnny Flynn. The right mix of the beautiful and the strange makes for good wood-working music and for reaching some kind of contemplative frame of mind.

4 pm and its Steve Lamacq on 6 Music followed by Marc Riley at 7pm if i'm still at it by then. I used to work quite late in my old workshop, but not so much these days. Marc Riley is an ace character and most nights has some great bands playing live in the studio with him, followed by some amusing, self-effacing and mildly insulting banter.

Saturday mornings are all about Adam and Joe and some genuine laughing out loud at their good natured monkeying around. Funny, creative boys. I wish i could find the clip they made of all the times they said 'um' or 'urr' in the space of an hour, after comparing themselves unfavourably to squeaky clean Steve Wright. This will have to do instead:

Undisputed title of KING OF THE WORKSHOP has to go to the crazy mix of folk, jazz, pop and psychedelia from Donovan Leitch.

I would make him Patron Saint of Luthiers if such a thing were possible :) Theres nothing like planing away to the sound of Donovan yelling, "Love is hot, truth is MOLTEN!!" as if hes urging me on to some kind of higher mystical plane of luthery. Haha!

BANNED FROM THE WORKSHOP: Bruce Springsteen.

The problem is I either start dwelling on the lyrics and making a mistake or I get gee-ed up by the Boss's commitment and air guitaring with a chisel in your hand is not clever and also breaks countless Health and Safety laws. heh.

A lot of the time theres just silence though. Sometimes you need to fall into a kind of reverie (some would say stupour!) and listening to the sounds that my tools are making has become more and more important to the making process.

The ultimate workshop sound however, is the sound that emerges from a newly made instrument the first time you string it up and start to tune it. But thats a post for another day :)