The ’60s belonged to the Beatles, an era that has since become immortalized in music and pop culture history as Beatlemania. While redefining the landscape of music, Paul McCartney was often armed with a 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar until it was stolen in ’72. Since then, their partnership seemed brought to a sad, premature end – until now, when at last the bass guitar as been returned to McCartney.
It was uncertain when exactly the bass guitar disappeared and initially McCartney estimated it at around 1969 while the Beatles were recording Let it Be. When McCartney first bought it, he paid around 30 pounds, or $37, and it was particularly special for him because he’s left-handed, and so “it looked less daft because it was symmetrical.” But its path home only got stranger once the guitar vanished.
Paul McCartney’s treasured Beatlemania bass guitar vanished for decades
“I got into that,” said McCartney, speaking of the bass guitar’s unique shape that catered to his performance style. “And once I bought it, I fell in love with it.” Then, in the midst of McCartney’s transformative performing through Beatlemania, the bass guitar vanished. The mission to retrieve this instrument would span decades and see many unexpected teams formed.
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Höfner executive Nick Wass would get involved in the search, partnering with journalist Scott Jones and his wife Naomi. The trio worked to search and to spread word of the instrument’s continued missing status.
“Paul said to me, ‘Hey, because you’re from Höfner, couldn’t you help find my bass?'” Wass shared. “And that’s what sparked this great hunt. Sitting there, seeing what the lost bass means to Paul, I was determined to solve the mystery.”
The great case of the Lost Bass Project
At first, they got a tip from a roadie with The Who that ended up being a dead end. Not to be deterred, but emails continued to find their way to the team. One was from sound engineer Ian Horne, who worked with McCartney’s band Wings, and claimed the guitar was swiped from his van in ’72 while in Notting Hill, London. Horne “carried the guilt all my life,” although McCartney insisted that he deserved no blame in the incident.
To my friends and family I inherited this item which has been returned to Paul McCartney. Share the news. pic.twitter.com/BlKP4L2ELP
— Ruaidhri Guest (@RassilonP) February 13, 2024
The thief, left unnamed, sold it to Ron Guest, a landlord at the Admiral Blake pub, for some pounds and some beer. The publicity of the search prompted Guest’s daughter Cathy to inform the team that a guitar matching their description had been sitting up in the attic for ages. In December, the bass was finally returned to McCartney, although it took another two months to formally authenticate it. But now, musician and instrument are united half a century later, and on February 13, Ruaidhri Guest could announce on social media, “To my friends and family I inherited this item which has been returned to Paul McCartney. Share the news.”
