Former Beatle Paul McCartney was able to find a bass guitar that had been missing for more than 50 years, on which he played Love Me Do, She Loves You and Twist and Shout in the studio and on stage.
According to Paul McCartney's website, the instrument, a violin-shaped Höfner, purchased in Hamburg in 1961 for £30 (around €600 at today's prices) has been authenticated © and Paul is incredibly grateful to everyone who took part in the research.
The bass has been found complete, but its original case needs to be repaired, according to a press release from The Lost Bass Project, which launched a call to find the instrument in 2018 and whose campaign generated renewed media interest last fall.
Contrary to what the initiators of the project – the journalist couple Scott and Naomi Jones – initially thought, the instrument did not disappear in 1969, but was stolen in the back of a van in west London in 1972.
Among the 600 calls and messages received, one proved crucial, Naomi Jones explained on BBC Radio 4 on Friday, allowing the puzzle to be put together.
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The Loss Bass Project searched for Paul McCartney's guitar, which was lost in 1969.
Photo: “Lost Bass” Project / Apple Films LTD
According to Scott Jones, the thief lived in one of the squats in Ladbroke Grove in Notting Hill, an area that is now middle-class but was then populated by musicians, artists and hippies.
The author of the theft, explains the journalist, knew nothing about the identity of the famous owner of the instrument, and when he found out about it, he asked the owner of the local pub to hide his loot.
“The incredible thing is that when we started this research we thought the bass could be anywhere in the world,” emphasized Naomi Jones, but in fact it all happened within a few miles in the Notting Hill area.