Paul McCartney’s Stolen Bass Returned After 50 Years
Beatles member Paul McCartney recently had a very special reunion. His Höfner bass guitar was finally returned to him after 50 years. He purchased the bass guitar in the early 1960s but it was stolen about a decade later. For many years, he used it as his primary instrument while playing with the Beatles and in early Beatles recordings. In the ’70s, it went missing and three Beatles fans set out to find it so they could return it to their idol.
Nick Wass, former marketing manager and electric guitar developer for Höfner, along with journalists and husband and wife team Scott and Naomi Jones created the Lost Bass Project. They found out that the bass guitar was stolen from a truck in Notting Hill in 1972. One of McCartney’s former sound engineers named Ian Horne, found out about the Lost Bass Project and sent the trio some information. He said that the bass was taken from the truck when McCartney and his band Wings were preparing for a tour.
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Horne said that he and his team did everything they could to locate the bass guitar because he knew how much it meant to McCartney. He had always felt guilty that the guitar was stolen during his watch but said that McCartney was never angry at him about it. After tracking down some other information, the Lost Bass Project revealed, “As a result of the publicity someone living in a terraced house on the south coast of England remembered an old bass guitar that was in their attic. They got this out and realized just what they had. Within days it was back with Paul McCartney!”
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McCartney was ecstatic to be reunited with the instrument and shared on his website, “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.” What do you think about this incredible story?
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