Got Back! Paul McCartney's Stolen Bass Is Returned After Half A Century

LONDON (AP) — Paul McCartney no longer gently weeps for his original bass guitar.

A five-year search by the manufacturer of the instrument that was aided by a husband-and-wife team of journalists helped reunite The Beatles star with the distinctive violin-shaped 1961 electric Höfner that went missing a half-century ago and is estimated to be worth 10 million pounds ($12.6 million).

McCartney had asked Höfner to help find the missing instrument that helped launch Beatlemania across the universe, Scott Jones, a journalist who teamed up with Höfner executive Nick Wass to track it down, said Friday.

“Paul said to me, ‘Hey, because you’re from Höfner, couldn’t you help find my bass?’” Wass said. “And that’s what sparked this great hunt. Sitting there, seeing what the lost bass means to Paul, I was determined to solve the mystery.”

McCartney bought the bass for about 30 pounds ($37) in 1961 when The Beatles were developing their chops during a series of residencies in Hamburg, Germany.

The instrument was played on The Beatles’ first two records and featured on hits such as “Love Me Do,” “Twist and Shout,” and “She Loves You.”

“Because I was left-handed, it looked less daft because it was symmetrical,” McCartney once said. “I got into that. And once I bought it, I fell in love with it.”

It was rumored to have been stolen around the time The Beatles were recording their final album, “Let it Be,” in 1969.

But no one was sure when it went missing.

What began as a long and winding road for Wass to track down the bass picked up speed when Jones serendipitously joined the hunt after seeing McCartney headline Glastonbury Festival in 2022. The stage lights at one point seemed to illuminate nothing but the sunburst pattern on his bass