McCartney's Search for the Missing Bass

One of the most iconic instruments of popular music, the original Höfner brand bass owned by musician Paul McCartneyis in search and rescue all over the world thanks to the “Lost Bass Project”.

This instrument, purchased by McCartney for the modest sum of $38 in 1961 in Hamburg, Germany, he left his mark on iconic recordings of The Beatles as “Love Me Do” and “Twist and Shout”. However, eight years after its acquisition, this bass mysteriously disappeared after the recording sessions for “Get Back” during the creation process of the “Let It Be” album in 1969.

In an interview with Beat Instrumental magazine in 1966, McCartney expressed his great appreciation for this instrument: “I have three models (from Höfner), but the old man is still my favorite, it has been so much fixed that there are parts tied up with tape.” In addition, this bass is known as “the cavern bass”, since it accompanied McCartney in their first performances at The Cavern Club bar in Liverpool.

Musician and McCartney collaborator Nick Wass leads the relentless search for this Höfner. In conversation with the BBC, Wass revealed that the campaign to find the bass started when McCartney himself asked about his famous instrument. Wass had written a book on the Höfner 500/1 violin-body bass, which disappeared in the 1960s.

The whereabouts of the bass after his last appearance on the recordings of “getback” in 1969 remains a mystery. “It is not clear where they kept it or who was present at the time,” Wass said.

The search project has the collaboration of journalists Scott and Naomi Jones, who, after witnessing a performance by McCartney at Glastonbury in 2022, they contacted the Höfner brand. It was then that they found out that McCartney had enlisted the manufacturer’s help in retrieving the beloved under him.

While no one can predict how much an instrument of this magnitude could fetch at auction, examples like the lost guitar from John Lennonwhich sold for $2.4 million, and Kurt Cobain’s guitar used in the iconic MTV Unpluggedwhich reached the figure of 6 million dollars, suggest that the under McCartney, which marked an era, could exceed these sums. However, the “Bass Perdido Project” emphasizes that its search is not motivated by financial ends.

Scott Jones stated: “What Höfner hopes is that someone will show up willingly, since the person who probably owns the bass doesn’t even know what they’re holding. It would be nice if the bass could be put on display at some point, and if the only way someone would show up is to make some money out of it, then so be it, at least that way it could make a comeback. But ultimately, we’re doing this so that Paul gets the bass back from him, that’s what he’s always wanted.”

The “Lost Bass Project” was announced to the public just over two days ago, but it has already generated hundreds of new leads, including two that are of particular interest and are under investigation.

There are signs that can help identify missing bass, even for those without technical knowledge in the matter. One obvious clue is the Höfner logo, which on the original model is written vertically on the bass headstock, unlike later models where it is written horizontally.