The Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Fleetwood Mac guitar legend tells the story of his '59 'Burst Les Paul, the '62 SG Junior he played on Runnin’ Down a Dream and more
Though Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Fleetwood Mac electric guitar legend Mike Campbell slightly thinned his enviable guitar collection with a Reverb.com sale last summer, his stash of vintage six-strings is still world-class.
A new episode of Gibson TV's The Collection – hosted by Mark Agnesi – explores Campbell's literal "carousel" of stunning guitars, how he came to own some of them, and what role those magical instruments played in his lengthy, incredible career.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Agnesi begins the proceedings by asking Campbell about his 1959 'Burst Les Paul Standard. Kept in immaculate condition, the guitar was used by Campbell to write the riff for Tom Petty's Good Enough.
Campbell reveals to Agnesi that he had been offered a 'Burst – for $50,000 – in the '80s, but declined, due to the guitar's darker tone conflicting with the trademark jangly and bright sound of the Heartbreakers. Decades later, during the recording of Petty and the Heartbreakers' blues-influenced 2010 album, Mojo, another 'Burst became available for Campbell. This time, he quickly snapped it up.
"It doesn't have the buckle wear and tear like the other ones do, but I love it anyway," Campbell says. "[Out of] all these guitars, [the 'Burst] is the only one I put back in the case when I'm done with it."
Next, the video moves onto a '80s - '90s-era white Firebird V Campbell picked up while on tour with Fleetwood Mac. Signed by none other than Johnny Winter, the guitar was sold to Campbell – just a few years ago, mind you – for $500, because of its broken neck, and the fact that the pawnbroker evidently didn't know who Winter was.
Not only did Campbell go on to use the guitar for the rest of the Fleetwood Mac tour, it's also become his guitar of choice when playing with his band, the Dirty Knobs.
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Also of note is Campbell's '62 Les Paul SG Junior, which he bought – at a video store, of all places – for just $120. Sporting just one pickup and a pair of control knobs, it's the guitar Campbell used for his solo on Petty's classic 1989 tune, Runnin’ Down a Dream.
It's not just electrics on tap, though. Campbell also tells Agnesi about his huge-sounding, well-worn '56 J-200 acoustic guitar – which he purchased while recording with Johnny Cash – and his 1968 Dove with a double pickguard, among other stalwart acoustics.
The show runs well over an hour, and features more gorgeous guitars than we have time to tell you about, but you can see the whole episode above.
For more episodes of The Collection, visit Gibson TV.
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
