Official search for Macca's Hofner announced

[boristhespider7]

Just saw this on the BBC news...
Paul McCartney: Global search for missing Beatles' 1961 Höfner guitar

For those of you outside the UK, who can't access the link this is the text:

Paul McCartney: Global search for missing Beatles' 1961 Höfner guitar
A global search has been launched to find one of the world's most iconic instruments - Paul McCartney's original Höfner bass guitar.

The Lost Bass Project is appealing for information about what it describes as "the most important bass in history".

McCartney bought the instrument for £30 ($38) in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961, but it disappeared eight years later.

The bass features in The Beatles' music of those years, including the hits Love Me Do and She Loves You.

Nick Wass is heading Höfner's search project and has joined forces with two journalists in trying to solve the "greatest mystery in the history of rock and roll".

He has collaborated extensively with McCartney and written a book about the missing Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass.

Wass told the BBC that the famous Beatle asked him about the guitar during a recent conversation - and that is how the campaign to find it began.

It is not clear what happened to the instrument, which was put away presumably after the Beatles finished filming Get Back in 1969, he said.

"It's not clear where it was stored, who might have been there.

"For most people, they will remember it... it's the bass that made the Beatles," Wass said.

 

[Jon Lars]

Looks like Jack Black has it:

 

[boristhespider7]

BBC just updated the story with this text added:

John Lennon's stolen guitar sold for $2.4m (£1.9m) when it resurfaced half a century later, and the acoustic Kurt Cobain played during the iconic MTV Unplugged set sold for $6m (£4.76m).

McCartney's era-defining bass would likely surpass both - but the Lost Bass Project team are clear that there is no commercial motivation for their search.

Jones said: "Höfner's hunch is that someone will come forward purely on good will, and whoever has it probably doesn't even realise what it is they've got.

"It would be nice if it could go on public display one day - and if the only way someone is going to come forward is to make some money from it, then so be it, because at least it would be found.

"But ultimately we're just doing this to get Paul his guitar back. We know via Nick and Höfner that it's what he's always wanted."

The project's public appeal has been live for less than 48 hours but the team has already "received exciting new leads" they are following up.

How to spot McCartney's bass
There are a couple of tell-tale signs any amateur sleuth should be aware of if trying to identify the bass.

A dead giveaway is the Höfner logo, which is written vertically on the headstock of the original model but was horizontal on later versions played by McCartney.

The missing bass also looked very different last time it was seen to how it did in older pictures, because it had to be renovated after extensive touring.

McCartney's missing bass was given a darker paint job, had the pearl pickguard removed and had the two pickups mounted in a single piece of black wood.

 

[Pauly 4001]

I guess this is what it looked like shortly before going missing.
Both pickups are mounted to a piece of dark wood.
Paul's Lost Bass | Höfner

 

[Pet Sounds]

This search was announced a few years ago. Not sure why it has hit the news again.

 

[boristhespider7]

And found!!!
Paul McCartney reunited with guitar stolen 51 years ago

Paul McCartney reunited with guitar stolen 51 years ago

• Published
  33 minutes ago

IMAGE SOURCE,APPLE FILMS LTD
Image caption,
Footage of McCartney playing the iconic bass was featured in the 2021 Get Back documentary
By Andre Rhoden-Paul
BBC News



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 Hofner bass was found in the attic of a man in Sussex thanks to a search by a project called the Lost Bass.

McCartney bought the guitar in 1961. 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 Hofner to find his beloved instrument. The bass was used on Love Me Do and She Loves You.

Following an appeal for information by the Lost Bass search project, a man living in a terraced house in Sussex contacted the team remembering he had an old bass guitar in his attic.

It was reunited with McCartney on Sunday.

His spokesperson said: "Following the launch of last year's Lost Bass project, Paul's 1961 Hofner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been returned.

"The guitar has been authenticated by Hofner and Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved."

Speaking to BBC News, the team behind the Lost Bass project said they were thrilled to solve the case they dubbed "the greatest mystery in the history of rock and roll".

"There were no leads, no evidence really where it might be," said journalist Scott Jones, who alongside his wife Naomi last year joined the search headed by Hofner bass expert Nick Wass.

"To have found it quite quickly is amazing and we've heard how thrilled Paul McCartney is to have it back.

"That's just the icing on the cake to know that bloke we all love is smiling tonight because his old guitar is back."

IMAGE SOURCE,THE LOST BASS PROJECT
Image caption,
Guitar expert Nick Wass inspecting the bass
The guitar was retrieved in late September and verified by experts to confirm it is genuine.

Luckily the bass was complete and still with its original case, but will need some repairs to make it playable again.

During their investigation, the team received tip-offs about the theft from the back of a van in Notting Hill 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 man's attic.

Speaking on why people came forward, journalist Mrs Jones said: "People wished him McCartney well and wanted to help, because of that we had all these people come forward.

"The search wasn't about attributing blame. We were saying to people you can speak to us on an anonymous basis."

The guitar 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.

 

[ERIC31]

That’s pretty amazing after all these years!!