After 50 long years, Paul McCartney has finally been reunited with his famed Höfner bass guitar.
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The bass guitar – which has been dubbed the most important bass in history for its role in recording numerous Beatles hits – was stolen from the musician in 1972, and was last week returned to McCartney, according to his official website.
According to the post, the bass was returned to McCartney and was authenticated by Höfner.
The statement read: “Following the launch of last year’s Lost Bass project, Paul’s 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been returned. The guitar has been authenticated by Höfner and Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved.”
The long-lost instrument was discovered through the Lost Bass campaign, which began in 2018 but only began to make progress last year to locate the historic bass. The search was headed up by Höfner’s Nick Wass, who has partnered with husband and wife team Scott and Naomi Jones, who are journalists and TV producers.
The Höfner bass was the first bass the Beatles star ever bought. He had purchased it in 1961 for £30 ($38) in Hamburg, Germany.
The bass guitar was believed to have disappeared in January 1969 when The Beatles were in London recording the ‘Get Back/Let It Be’ sessions. However, during investigations by the Lost Bass Project team last year, they discovered that it was instead stolen three years later.
The Lost Bass Project wrote on their website: “We received information about the actual theft, that it had been stolen from the back of a 3 ton van during the night of 10th October 1972, in the Notting Hill area of London. This was the breakthrough we needed.”
According to The Lost Bass Project, the now-recovered Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass is the one that can be heard on ‘Love Me Do’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘Twist and Shout’.