Hunt for McCartney’s bass is over
Paul McCartney has been reunited with his 1960s bass.
Paul McCartney no longer gently weeps for his original bass guitar.
A five-year search by the manufacturer of the instrument that was aided by a husband-andwife team of journalists helped reunite the Beatles star with the distinctive violin-shaped 1961 electric Höfner that went missing a half-century ago and is estimated to be worth $12.6 million.
McCartney had asked Höfner to help find the missing instrument that helped launch Beatlemania across the universe, Scott Jones, a journalist who teamed up with Höfner executive Nick Wass to track it down, said Friday.
“Paul said to me, ‘Hey, because you’re from Höfner, couldn’t you help find my bass?’ ” Wass said. “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.”
McCartney bought the bass for about $37 in 1961 when the Beatles were developing their chops during a series of residencies in Hamburg, Germany. The instrument was played on the Beatles’ first two records and featured on hits such as “Love Me Do,” “Twist and Shout” and “She Loves You.”
“Because I was lefthanded, it looked less daft because it was symmetrical,” McCartney once said. “I got into that. And once I bought it, I fell in love with it.”
It was rumored to have been stolen around the time the Beatles were recording their final album, “Let It Be,” in 1969. But no one was sure when it went missing.
What began as a long and winding road for Wass to track down the bass picked up speed when Jones joined the hunt after seeing McCartney headline the Glastonbury Festival in 2022. The stage lights at one point seemed to illuminate nothing but the sunburst pattern on his bass and Jones wondered if it was the same instrument McCartney had played in the early ’60s. When he later searched the internet, he was stunned to find the original bass was missing.
“I was staggered, I was amazed,” Jones said. “I think we live in a world where the Beatles could do almost anything and it would get a lot of attention.”
Jones and his wife,
Naomi, both journalists and researchers, got in touch with Wass to spread the word more broadly.
After hitting a dead end following a lead about a roadie for the Who, they relaunched the Lost Bass Project in September and within 48 hours were inundated with 600 emails that contained the “little gems that led us to where we are today,” Jones said.
It took about two months to authenticate the instrument.
The estimated value of the instrument is based on the fact that a Gibson acoustic guitar Kurt Cobain played on “MTV Unplugged” sold for $6 million, Jones said.
It is now McCartney’s once again. His official website posted a message announcing its return, saying “Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved.”
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