Seymour Duncan has wound a custom shop electric guitar pickup to celebrate the release of the much-anticipated Spinal Tap sequel, and this one-of-one design might just be the most powerful active humbucker ever made.
The release of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is a momentous moment for rock history. We’re some days yet off its theatrical release on Friday 12 September, but the movie has already unveiled some awesome custom electric guitar – awesome in its original meaning, too.
How else could you describe lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel’s custom Marshall amp, a head that goes not to 11 – that’s oh so 1984 – but to infinity?
To work an amp like that, you need something to hit the front end hard, and this unique Seymour Duncan Spinal Tap humbucker is just the thing, with a “eye-watering, earth-shattering” 111k DCR reading. For reference, Seymour Duncan’s dynamic SH-8 Invader, a thoroughly weaponised take on the passive ‘bucker, clocks in at 16.6k for the bridge pickup. What will this one sound like?
Seymour Duncan is coy if we’ll ever see one in production. But it would be kind of weird the Goleta, California pickup company would go to all this bother and not plug it in, fire up a tube amp, and document the evidence for posterity.
“Our Custom Shop wound this humbucker to deliver an eye-watering, earth-shattering 111k DCR – because of course, it had to go to (one hundred and) eleven!” reads Seymour Duncan’s post on Instagram. “And yes, that means it's louder. In fact, it has one of the highest outputs of any passive humbucker, ever! This was such a fun project for our Custom Shop team, and while it’s not currently headed for production, we’d like to have a little fun with it. [Eyes emoji] So stay tuned!”
Maybe, just maybe, it is in the film. Who can say? Though judging by the picture, the sheer size of those coils would certainly suit an IMAX presentation.
If you take yourself to the cinema this weekend, you’ll find Spinal Tap engineering a comeback gig, with director Marty Di Bergi capturing all the drama in his fly-on-the-wall rockumentary style, and there will be a lot of guitars, with Tufnel playing a St Vincent’s Goldie signature guitar refinished in a Union Jack, and guitarist/vocalist David St Hubbins playing a matching James Valentine HH.
What we want to hear is this new Marshall that Tufnel has added to his backline – the JCM Infinity?
“Marshall has made for me an amplifier, the head, and if you look at the dials, it now goes to Infinity,” said Tufnel, speaking to Guitar World. “Just think about that for a moment. Think about infinity – oh, my God, that’s literally infinity.”
Tufnel has always been the maverick. But he has been living the quiet life of late, running a cheese and guitars shop in the north of England, playing the pub circuit. Maybe this reunion will sharpen his appetite for high-volume, high-gain adventure.
Certainly, you won’t find him rocking up at a Tap gig with a Line 6 or Neural DSP amp modeller. He assures Guitar World still a real guitar amp man.
“No, no. People use it in studios to make records, but I like my amplifiers,” said 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.”
