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Watch: Mike Campbell shows off his desert island guitars

A Fender Broadcaster, ’59 Les Paul and more.

Mike Campbell

Image: Guitar Center via YouTube

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Mike Campbell recently showed off the guitars he would take with him if he were stranded on a desert island, including a few historic instruments that shaped the sound and music of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers.

Campbell introduced the instruments in a new video for Guitar Center, with his foremost desert island guitar being a Fender Broadcaster from the 1950s.

“I got it for $600 at Nadine’s Music Store in Hollywood, California when [the Heartbreakers] were doing our first record,” he said. “I only had a Stratocaster at the time and Tom was using that, so I needed something good.”

“I found this on the wall, and it’s natural wood and it’s just beautiful, it plays wonderful. And we used it all through the Heartbreakers records. In fact, on Mary Jane’s Last Dance, Tom played this.”

He added: “It kind of established what the Heartbreakers sound like, the overtones of this guitar.”

Another remarkable guitar from Campbell’s collection: a ‘59 Gibson Les Paul. Often considered the holy grail to many players and collectors, the guitar is one he says doesn’t leave the house anymore.

“I got this and we were starting an album called Mojo with the Heartbreakers,” Campbell recalled. “I started playing it and Tom lost his mind. He said, ‘That’s a great sounding guitar, I want you to play it on every song. We’re going to make this album around the sound of that guitar.’ And we did.”

Campbell also showed off a Gibson Firebird he picked up in Philadelphia while on the road with Fleetwood Mac for their 2018/2019 world tour. The guitar supposedly features an autograph from the late blues great Johnny Winters, though Campbell says he “can’t verify that”.

Watch the entire conversation with Mike Campbell below:

Last November, Campbell finally released his first album with Dirty Knobs, a band he formed back in 2001. The record, titled Wreckless Abandon, also features guitarist Jason Sinay, drummer Matt Laug and bassist Lance Morrison.

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