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Paul McCartney Reunited With Treasured Guitar He Bought For £30 in 1961
Get Back to Where You Once Belonged!
Sir Paul McCartney is 'reunited' with treasured bass guitar he bought for £30 in 1961 after global search was launched for missing instrument
MailOnline 16 FEB 2024
January 1969
It's travelled a Long And Winding Road, but a treasured bass guitar bought by Sir Paul McCartney before he became famous has apparently been returned to the former Beatle.
A global search was launched for the missing instrument - purchased by McCartney in 1961 for £30 - in 2023, some 54-years after it was last seen while The Beatles recorded what would be their final album, Let It Be.
The guitar, a distinctively shaped Höfner bass, became synonymous with the versatile musician during his time with The Beatles and was bought while the then unknown band toured Hamburg's notorious club circuit.
A year later the band released debut single Please, Please Me, a hit in the United Kingdom that would spark the Beatlemania phenomenon and change the lives of McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr forever.
Despite the small price tag on the guitar when he bought it, the instrument would go on to be a staple in the rise of Beatlemania, with McCartney regularly taking it on stage from 1961 to 1963, until it disappeared just before the band broke up in 1970.
It was last seen in the days before McCartney and his bandmates climbed onto the roof of their Savile Row offices in 1969 for what would be their final live performance.
McCartney has since been on the hunt for his 'favourite' guitar, a violin-shaped Höfner 500/1 electric bass - until now.
On Tuesday, a young student claimed the instrument was left to him as part of an inheritance, but has subsequently been returned its legendary owner.
Sharing a photo of the guitar on X, formerly Twitter, film enthusiast Ruaidhri Guest tweeted: 'To my friends and family I inherited this item which has been returned to Paul McCartney. Share the news.'
McCartney previously said he 'fell in love' with the guitar - which could now be worth as much as £10million - because its shape meant that it looked more symmetrical as he played left-handed.
Though he briefly put it to one side during his time in the band, he picked it up again for recording sessions in London when the group were recording Let it Be. The instrument can also be spotted in Get Back, the Peter Jackson documentary which was released in 2021.
Höfner stepped in to help the musician with his desperate search for the instrument online by creating the hashtag 'tracingthebass' and inviting people from around the world to track it down.
They have been the preferred brand for McCartney throughout his career. He has owned four Höfner basses since 1961, and to this day plays one of the basses given to him by the German company.
Film enthusiast Ruaidhri Guest shared a photo of himself, purportedly with the treasured guitar, across social media on Tuesday
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