As with many a legendary rock star, Nigel Tufnel, the firebrand lead guitarist for Spinal Tap, has pursued the quiet life as the UK rock institution has been on hiatus.
He still keeps his chops up – some things will never change. You might find him playing the pub circuit in the north of England, but otherwise his day-to-day is spend manning the counter of a cheese and guitar shop in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
With Spinal Tap appearing in a sequel to their 1984 movie, This Is Spinal Tap, Tufnel sat down with Guitar World to clue us all in as to what he’s been up to over the years, and to share how his relationship with the instrument has changed.
For a start, the man whose collection of electric guitars was immortalised in celluloid is a lot less precious about his instruments. “Don’t even look at it,” he told director Marty DiBergi in the first film. As Spinal Tap II: The End Continues nears a theatrical release, Tufnel breezily admits that he’s operating a barter system at his cheese shop. Say if you come in with a particularly tasty wheel of Tomme de Savoie, Tufnel might be willing to organise a swap.
“I have guitars at my cheese shop. You can come in and trade guitars for cheese, or vice versa,” he says. “If you bring in some cheese, I might trade you one of the guitars on the wall… It’s a barter system. Let’s say someone has a piece of cheese, and they think, ‘I don't really like this cheese, so I’m going to bring it in. And oh, look at that! There’s a nice F-hole Gibson…’ They can do a swap or whatever.”
There are some damn fine cheeses in Tufnel’s fromagerie. We spy a round of Baron Bigod behind Tufnel in the trailer.
Marshall has made for me an amplifier, the head, and if you look at the dials, it now goes to Infinity
Taking its name from a 12-century Earl of Norfolk, this soft, Brie-de-Meaux-alike from Fen Farms Dairy is a knockout, made with the milk of the farm’s free-foraging Montbeliarde cows. Lovely.
But we can’t help think about the array of new guitars that Tufnel and his six-string lieutenant and Tap frontman David St Hubbins are playing in the trailer, too.
Tufnel has been playing a Collings, a Union Jack custom St Vincent Goldie from Ernie Ball Music Man, a Nachocaster. St Hubbins had an Ibanez JS-3 Joe Satriani signature guitar. As it turns out, Marshall has made Tufnel that goes way beyond 11.
“Marshall has made for me an amplifier, the head, and if you look at the dials, it now goes to Infinity,” he tells Guitar World. “Just think about that for a moment. Think about infinity – oh, my God, that’s literally infinity.”
Tufnel also admits to having been bitten by the guitar effects pedal bug, even going as far as to open up the enclosures and modding them. But with what he says about Marshall availing him of – perhaps – the world’s loudest tube amp, it is no surprise to learn which side of the amp modeller vs “real amp” debate he stands on.
“No, no. People use it in studios to make records, but I like my amplifiers,” says Tufnel. “Occasionally I’ve gone direct when I record at home. There’s something about pushing air, as they call it. I’'ve got this great Marshall at home, a Studio Marshall, and it’s hard to beat.”
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is in theatres worldwide from September 12. It follows the band as they prepare for a comeback gig 15 years in the making.
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