Mike Campbell shot to fame as Tom Petty’s guitarist in the Heartbreakers. Over the years since the group formed in 1976, Campbell has acquired a nice collection of rare guitars, including his 1950 Fender Broadcaster, the guitar behind his “American Girl” sound and the ax he says “I can’t live without.”
But Campbell’s incredible success story started in Gainesville, Florida, and with a very different guitar: a little Japanese Guyatone electric solidbody. It wasn’t much of a guitar, but it was all he had when he went to audition for Mudcrutch, a local band that featured a blond-haired singer and guitarist by the name of Tom Petty.
Predictably, things started off badly once Campbell pulled his Guyatone from its case.
"My band's drummer, Randall Marsh, auditioned for Mudcrutch and became their drummer," Campbell recalled to Guitar Aficionado of that life-changing day in Gainesville, Florida, back in 1970. "Mudcrutch had just lost their guitar player, and Randall told them that he had a buddy who plays guitar. They called me up to audition, so I went over there with my little Guyatone.
“When they saw my guitar, they all laughed at me and went, 'Oh, great.' They asked me what I knew how to play, and I suggested Johnny B. Goode.'
“When I started playing, they all changed their tune really quickly. That was the first time I ever met Tom. We hit it off immediately, but one of the first things he said to me was, 'We've got to get you a good guitar."
Campbell survived his trial by fire and went on to have a career with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers that thrived up to Petty's death in 2017. Campbell and Petty recorded more than a dozen chart-topping albums together, while Campbell on his own has made records and player with legends that include Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins. He also co-wrote and recorded most of the backing tracks to Don Henley's massive solo hit "The Boys of Summer."
And over those years, Campbell acquired several hundred good — and in many cases great — guitars. They include not only his Fender Broadcaster but also his Red Dog Fender Telecaster, 1959 Les Paul Sunburst and other examples with which he and Petty forged their defining Heartbreakers sound.
Campbell says he developed his love for guitar music as a child, courtesy of his father.
"My dad was a big Elvis and Johnny Cash fan," he recalled. "That was probably the first time I noticed the guitar and what it was doing in music.
“Then the Beatles came along, and that changed every-body at my school. I wanted to learn to play guitar, but I couldn't afford one for a very long time."
He was 16 when he got his first guitar, in 1966. It was a pawnshop Harmony acoustic, purchased by his mother for $15.
"It was unplayable, but I didn't know any better. I tried to play the damn thing, but the strings wouldn't push down all the way.”
— Mike Campbell
"It was unplayable," he recalled, "but I didn't know any better. I tried to play the damn thing, but the strings wouldn't push down all the way.”
In that respect, the Guyatone was a step up. But would soon learn there was much room for improvement.
“My dad was in the Air Force, and when he was stationed in Okinawa, he sent me that Guyatone guitar. I learned to play on that.
“One day, I went over to a friend's house and he showed me his Gibson SG. I was astonished at how easy it was to play. I didn't realize that playing a guitar could be painless.
“It opened my eyes, and I realized that maybe I could do this after all. It was an amazing time to learn how to play guitar. I'm still inspired by a lot of music from that era."
