How Beatles's Paul McCartney found his treasured bass guitar after more than 50 years
music history, though in the decades since it went missing, there had been some dramatic rumors.
Was the Höfner violin bass, which had accompanied Paul McCartney and the Beatles to worldwide fame, tucked away in a private collection? Had it been secretly shipped to a wealthy fan in Japan?
It turned out the bass was passing time in a more unassuming locale: the loft of a family home in East Sussex, England. The family reported the guitar in late September after a couple of journalists and a guitar expert started a new campaign looking for it in 2023, more than 50 years after it was last seen.
The guitar, which has been authenticated by its manufacturer, has been returned to McCartney, according to a statement posted on his website Thursday. «Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved,» it said.
It was the denouement to an enduring mystery that had gripped Beatles fans, including one group who pooled their skills to help find it.
'It Started Beatlemania'
The Höfner 500/1 guitar is a precious part of Beatles lore. It can be heard on recordings of hit songs including «Love Me Do,» «She Loves You» and «Twist and Shout.»
After becoming the band's bassist, McCartney desperately needed a bass guitar and bought the instrument in a music store in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961.
«I got my Violin Bass at the Steinway shop in the town center,» he recalled in a 1993 interview with Guitar Magazine. It cost the equivalent of 30 pounds — cheap enough for him to afford. «And once I bought it, I fell in love with it,» he
