YouTube Transcription #62 Spinal Tap

This is a short scene from This Is Spinal Tap, a fictitious documentary about a British heavy metal band, parodying their stereotypical childish and immature behaviour. In this scene the film director is visiting the guitar collection of Spinal Tap guitarist Nigel Tufnall (played by American comedian Christopher Guest).

Director: Do you play all… I mean do you actually play all these, or…?
Nigel Tufnall: I play them and I cherish them. This is the top of the heap, right here. There’s no question about it. Look at the flame on that one. I mean it’s just… it’s quite unbelievable. This one is just, er… it’s perfect. 1959, you know, just… you can… listen…
Director: How much…
Nigel: Just listen for a minute. The sustain, listen to it.
director: I’m not hearing anything.
Nigel: You would, though, if it were playing, ’cause it really… it’s famous for its sustain. You can just hold it… you can go and have a bite and you’ll still be hearing that one. Will you hold this a sec? This one, of course, is a custom three-pickup Paul. Here’s my radio unit. So I strap this piece on, you know, right down here when I’m on stage…
Director: It’s a wireless.
Nigel: Wireless, exactly, and I can play without all the muck.
Director: You can run anywhere on stage…
Nigel: Exactly. Now this is special too, it’s… look, see? Still got the old tagger on it, see? Never even played it.
Director: You just bought it…
Nigel: Don’t touch it!
Director: I wasn’t going to touch it…
Nigel: No-one… no, don’t touch it.
Director: I was just pointing at it…
Nigel: Well don’t point, even…
Director: Don’t even point?
Nigel: No, it can’t be played. Never.
Director: Can I look at it?
Nigel: No, you’ve seen enough of that one. This is a top to, er, what we use on stage, but it’s very special, because, if you can see, the numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board.
Director: And most amps go up to ten…
Nigel: Exactly.
Director: Does that mean it’s louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel: Well, it’s “one” louder, isn’t it? It’s not ten. You see, most blokes are gonna be playing at ten… you’re on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, you’re on ten on your guitar – where can you go from there? Where?
Director: I don’t…
Nigel: Nowhere! Exactly! What we do is if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Director: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel: Eleven, exactly. “One” louder.
Director: Why don’t you just make “ten” louder, and make “ten” be the top number, and make that a little louder?
Nigel: These go to eleven.