Sir Paul McCartney has been reunited with the bass guitar he used on Beatles hits including Love Me Do and She Loves You, 51 years after it was stolen from the back of a van in London.
The Höfner bass was found in a family’s attic in Sussex thanks to a search by a project called the Lost Bass. Sir Paul bought the guitar in 1961 and it was taken in west London in 1972.
A spokesperson for the former Beatle said he was “incredibly grateful” for its return. The hunt began after the star urged Höfner to find his beloved instrument, which was used on Love Me Do and She Loves You.
It was reunited with Sir Paul in December. His spokesperson said: “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 search for the missing bass was a collaboration between journalist Scott Jones and his wife Naomi, Höfner bass expert Nick Wass, and the Lost Bass project. The guitar was retrieved in late September and verified by experts to confirm it is genuine. It was complete and still with its original case, but will need some repairs to make it playable again. During the investigation, the team received tip-offs about the theft from the back of a van in Ladbroke Grove in October 1972.
They found it was then sold to a landlord of a pub in the area, before it made its way to Sussex, where it was sitting in a family’s attic. The guitar, originally purchased for £30 in Germany in 1961, has not been valued, but the Lost Bass team think it would be worth more than the most expensive guitar ever sold – a Kurt Cobain guitar which sold for a record $6m (£4.9m) at auction in 2020. John Lennon’s stolen guitar sold for $2.4m (£1.9m) when it resurfaced half a century later.
The historic significance of this event cannot be understated, as it marks the return of a cherished piece of musical history to one of the most influential musicians of all time. The recovery of Sir Paul McCartney’s stolen bass guitar serves as a reminder of the enduring legacy of The Beatles and their impact on the world of music.