Paul McCartney’s Lost Höfner Bass

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock you are probably aware by now that Paul’s 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been….

In September last year we reported on a concerted new effort to trace the missing instrument – and it seems that the case has well and truly been solved. In fact, the bass is already back in the hands of its original owner – Paul McCartney.

Check out this short statement on the official McCartney site, plus The Lost Bass Breaking News page for more.

The instrument is a little worse for wear but, according to an expert from Höfner called in to examine it, it shouldn’t be all that difficult to once again get it going again.

One of the most informative articles about what state it is in and the intriguing back story as to where the bass has been all this time is in the Dutch music magazine, De Bassist. They interviewed Höfner expert Nick Wass about finding The Lost Bass. Their article is well worth a read!

6 thoughts on “Paul McCartney’s Lost Höfner Bass”

  2. I have read many articles before that it was stolen during Let It Be…I don’t know if that was just a rumor…but also I have read about the Wings van in 1972 that guitars were stolen out of.

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    • Hi Max, yes for a long time it was incorrectly reported that the bass was stolen from the Apple building sometime just after the Let It Be sessions recorded there, but it was actually lost in 1972 when some roadies working for Wings while they were on tour left some instruments and other gear in a truck and parked it on a street overnight. It is all explained in the De Bassist magazine article (there’s a link in our story). Cheers.

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      • Thank you…that confused me when it was first announced. I read in the Paul McCartney legacy book that some were stolen in 1972. I had no idea it was this one. Thanks again!

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