McCartney reunited with his missing ‘Beatlemania’ bass guitar

AFP | London                                       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Paul McCartney has expressed his gratitude after the Beatles legend was reunited with a missing bass guitar that he owned in the 1960s and used on several Fab Four tracks.

McCartney played the original Höfner bass throughout the Beatlemania decade, including at Hamburg’s Top Ten Club, at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and on early Beatles recordings at London’s Abbey Road studios.

It was used to record hits including “Love Me Do”, “She Loves You”, and “Twist and Shout”.

The instrument was then thought to have been lost during the London “Get Back/Let It Be” recording sessions in January 1969, but an investigation last year discovered that it was actually stolen in 1972.

The investigation was led by a guitar expert and two journalists, who launched a fresh drive to reunite the guitar with McCartney, vowing to solve what they branded “the greatest mystery in rock and roll”.

After receiving hundreds of leads and suggestions, the “Lost Bass Project” pinpointed when and where it was stolen and other information before eventually discovering its most recent whereabouts.

“Following the launch of last year’s Lost Bass project, Paul’s 1961 Hofner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been returned,” a post on McCartney’s official website stated.