The Mysterious Disappearance of Paul McCartney's Höfner Bass Sparks a Hunt, Now Being Documented in a Film
In a thrilling turn of events, the iconic Höfner 500/1 bass guitar once belonging to Paul McCartney has been recovered after nearly five decades. The instrument, which went missing in London in 1972, was found in an attic in Suffolk, England, in September 2023 by The Lost Bass Project.
McCartney, who purchased the bass guitar at the beginning of his career with The Beatles, in a shop in Hamburg, Germany, for approximately 30 British pounds, was reunited with the instrument in February 2024. The search for the lost bass guitar is now the focus of a new documentary titled The Beatle And The Bass, commissioned by BBC Arts and produced by Passion Pictures.
The documentary unpacks the drama surrounding the search for McCartney's 'Violin' bass, as well as other guitar mysteries, such as the ongoing search for Eric Clapton's 'Beano' Les Paul guitar and the McFly ES-345 electric guitar that Michael J Fox played as Marty McFly in Back to the Future.
During the Got Back 2024 Tour at London's 02 Arena in December 2024, the bass made a dramatic return to the stage. McCartney played the bass for the first time in over 50 years, welcoming Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood to the stage to perform Get Back.
In an interview with Tony Bacon in 1994, McCartney described his purchase of the Höfner bass guitar. The specific owners between September 2023 and February 2024 have not been publicly disclosed.
Interestingly, Gibson's global hunt for the McFly ES-345 is ongoing, and a Custom Shop replica release of the guitar has been teased. However, the anachronistic badging of the replica release as a "1955" model, which is not accurate to the guitar's history, has sparked some controversy.
The Beatle And The Bass promises to be an engaging exploration of the drama and intrigue surrounding these iconic musical instruments. The documentary is reportedly produced by the company behind the award-winning Christopher Reeve documentary, Super/Man.
