Paul McCartney bought a Höfner 500/1 bass guitar in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961, for just £30. He used it to record the Beatles’ first two albums. McCartney played it on their first TV appearance in Britain, and on The Ed Sullivan Show in the US. The violin-shaped guitar became known as the Höfner Beatle bass. Then sometime after the Beatles broke up, it just disappeared.
A group of Beatles fans organized a project called The Lost Bass in 2018 with the aim of finding McCartney’s guitar. There was a lot of interest, but no real leads until two British journalists, Scott and Naomi Jones, got involved. With their help, The Lost Bass reached thousands of people, including some who had bits of real information. A sound engineer revealed that the bass had been stolen from an equipment van in October of 1972. Every clue led to more clues, and with proper publicity, the story of the lost guitar got to just the right people who could help. And in September of last year, an anonymous person reached out to Paul McCartney’s company and then returned the bass! The Höfner was authenticated as the same guitar McCartney purchased in 1961. It sustained some damage, but can be repaired. Read how the project led to the bass guitar recovery more than 50 years after it was last seen.
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Source: neatorama