Paul McCartney: Long-Lost Höfner Bass Finally Returned
Paul McCartney has been reunited with his long-lost Höfner bass.
A statement confirming this news was shared via his website. It says, “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.”
According to the Lost Bass project’s website, the search for the Höfner bass first began in 2018. After the journalist couple Scott and Naomi Jones joined the project in May 2023, the project started getting more and more leads. The Lost Bass project’s website says they received over 100 leads on the bass. Additionally, over 600 people contacted the project offering to help.
The website notes, “We received information about the actual theft, that it had been stolen from the back of a 3 ton van during the night of 10th October 1972, in the Notting Hill area of London … We quickly realized that this information corresponded exactly with a story we had received in an email about the bass being stolen.”
As the project’s investigation continued, they determined that the person who stole the bass sold it to a man named Ronald Guest. Guest was the landlord of the Admiral Blake pub in London. Once the purchaser was determined, this information eventually led to the Höfner bass being found.
The found Höfner bass is in need of repairs, and it was still in its original case. It’s likely that the finest luthiers will be able to repair the bass to make it playable again. As of publishing, there are no publicly known future plans for the iconic guitar. However, fans the world over are thrilled it’s been returned to Sir Paul after being missing for over 50 years.
