Tufnel was born in 1944 in
Squatney. There, at the young age of four, he met his first musical mentor, a
skiffle band guitarist named Jimmy the Spot. Jimmy taught Tufnel to play loud. Tufnel met Spinal Tap band mate
David St. Hubbins playing skiffle outside of a London subway station.
When Tufnel is not playing in
Spinal Tap, he enjoys chess using pieces made from
Nerf ("No one gets hurt."). Tufnel is an avid guitar collector. His prize is a foam-green
Fender 6-string bass. He loves it so much he's never played it. In fact, he has it guarded around the rock by an armed guard. The guard not only protects the guitar from thieves but protects it from Tufnel's own desire to play it. "Playing it would be kind of like unvirgining a
virgin." It's rare Tufnel even show it to anyone. ("Don't touch it.! Don't even point at it.")
In total Tufnel owns 112 guitars,
mandolins, and basses. His collection includes:
- two Strat-style Tom Andersons
- a 1946 herringbone Martin D-28
- a Guild 12-string
- a Gibson Chet Atkins Solidbody Classic
- two 1958 Flying V's
Tufnel invested some of his Spinal Tap earnings into a Scottish castle he somehow incorrectly assumed would result in a considerable tax write off. There he presumable hangs the Tufnel family
coat of arms. The coat of arms consists of four sections. In the top left there's nothing. In the top right, there's a small spot. In the lower left, there's a quail. In the bottom right, there's nothing. Below is the Tufnel family motto "
Leisure with
Dignity".
Tufnel is an
avid inventor. He has a shed on his farm in
Kent where he can tinker. In his "inventing shed" he came up with not only the amp that goes to eleven but the foldable wine glass that you can keep in your pocket. The glass has four sides and hinges. The glass still has a number of bugs to work out, including the fact that the sides don't close tightly and most of the wine leaks out rather quickly. He feels once he lays his hands on some Chinese-made rubber
hinges, all will be solved.
He also invented the "tone
cozy". They're little wool caps you slip on your guitar's steel knobs, making them less cold to the touch.