After an extensive global search, a Höfner bass guitar Paul McCartney bought for £30 in 1961 is finally reunited with the former Beatle. The distinctive violin-shaped bass, reportedly McCartney’s favourite, was supposedly stolen around the time The Beatles were recording their final album, Let It Be.
McCartney’s purchase over six decades ago, £800 in today’s money, was made just before the Beatles’ meteoric rise to fame. The Lost Bass Project launched a search for the missing Höfner 500/1 last year, their efforts culminating in a breakthrough when a student, Ruaidhri Guest, shared a photograph of the elusive guitar on social media.
Guest claimed to have inherited the bass and revealed that it had been returned to its original owner, bringing closure to the decades-long search for McCartney’s beloved instrument.
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“To my friends and family, I inherited this item, which has been returned to Paul McCartney. Share the news,” he posted on X.
The bass, estimated to be now worth up to £10 million, was bought during The Beatles’ tour in Hamburg in 1961. At this point, the band was mostly unknown and enjoyed touring the German city’s small clubs as one of their earliest overseas adventures.
“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,” a statement on McCartney’s website reads.
“For about £30, I found this Höfner violin bass,” McCartney said of the bass. “And to me, because I was left-handed, it looked less daft because it was symmetrical. I got into that. And once I bought it, I fell in love with it.”
The current Höfner executive Nick Wass stated to the Telegraph: “I’ve worked closely with Paul McCartney’s team over the years, and when I’ve met Paul, we’ve talked about his first Höfner bass and where it could be today.”
“Paul said to me, ‘Hey, because you’re from Höfner, couldn’t you help find my bass?’ And that’s what sparked this great hunt,” he added.
Wass noted that the prized guitar would now be valued “more like a Van Gogh or a Picasso than just an instrument.”
Watch a young Paul McCartney use the Höfner bass below.
