Very happy the bass was found. Now, let’s hope George’s Gretsch Tennessean and second Rickenbacker 360/12 are located. George gave away his remaining Gretsch Country Gentleman to a fellow musician. That would be another awesome find!
Same with the GRETSCH-that Hilton Valentine owned - he had one just like George's-where is the Epiphone Bass that chas chandler played -did it ever resurface ????
according to what I read -he sold it--65-66@@jasonart624he had the Tennessean- he was given a 12 string Vox and a Rickenbacher also by the guitar companies-I think he had bought a Fender 65-66 era
Surely this is the Holy Grail of rock history. Great work by the researchers to identify the ambo. We need the full bass story! It's not just any band here, this is from The Beatles.
I agree , stored in a loft for over 50 years the person who bought the stolen guitar without knowing it was , really took good care of it. And his children who inherited it and returned it. I have a feeling Paul will do something in secret to reward them personally.
As pleased as I am that Paul McCartney's 1961 Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass Guitar has been returned to him, I hope that he continues to use his 1963 Höfner bass guitar as his main instrument, since it would have become his main Höfner bass guitar instead of the 1961 one for a reason. The 1963 one also looks better in my opinion. As it has that large violin/small cello/double bass look that I love. And now that he has his 1961 one back, he's probably going to start using it in live concerts again.
I never thought we'd see it again, especially in Paul's lifetime. The one thing I can't get over is the bizarre position of the bridge! I wonder when that happened.
Yeah, I noticed that bridge position too. It’s what’s known as a floating bridge - meaning it can be placed anywhere on the body underneath the strings. Whoever put the bridge there obviously didn’t know what the hell they were doing - messes up the scale
Nick, great video! As a long time luthier/guitar repair professional, I have worked on many Hofner basses of varying vintages. I can say for certain that the changes in the bass from year to year had some overlap. The early flat back Hofners I've seen had solid carved spruce tops and the backs were solid maple. The finish was interesting on Hofner basses in that the factory applied a heavy polyester/gelcoat sealer on the bare wood. The color and shading was sprayed over this thick sealer coat and nitrocellulose lacquer was sprayed as the clear coats. The necks did not get the polyester sealer, just lacquer sealer, color shading and lacquer clear coats. This explains the large finish checks (cracks) seen in some of the older Hofners. It was the sealer coating that cracked. Keep up the good work!
Great stuff! (BTW, Twickenham is pronounced "Twickenum" - the general rule in England for place names ending in "ham" is to just say, "um", but not for places like West Ham, which is two separate words).
I say with a little tongue-in-cheek, that the bass sounds cursed. That only its rightful owner can own it. That everyone who possessed it died gives it a mystical quality. Talk about "mojo".
I’m really happy for Paul, he deserves all the happiness in the world and the help of all those involved in finding it. After all the years of music and magical moments he gave us, this deserved a happy ending.
The most amazing thing about this is that a 60's psychedelic era rock star lived long enough to get his stolen instrument back nearly 55 years later. Hooray!
That's really cool! I'm very surprised to hear it was stolen in the 70s! With all the info we know about The Beatles I'm really surprised that detail hasn't been out before now. Harrisons guitar 'Lucy' was also stolen in 1973 and happily didn't disappear for decades! Now we have the original pair of the instruments that started the ride to fame, Paul's original bass and a couple years back John's 1962 Gibson J-160E was discovered after being left behind by Mal Evans after a Holiday concert in London 1963! Your right Nick, I've been thinking the same thing, it has to be spotted! People of Liverpool, it's NOT gonna be found in your attic anymore!!🎸😉
From an interview with Nick Wass (Hofner expert) So the reissue you did was better? No, it was bad, because we discovered something that no one knew. And if they say they knew, they are lying. When we turned it over, we discovered that Paul's bass had a dome, rounded back, not flat, whereas all the '61 reissues, including the copies we made - and a few others we made - have flat backs. We were very surprised. In 1961 the basses had solid spruce tops and flat backs, so it wasn't what we expected. Later at the end of the year the tops were converted to plywood, so maybe this is an experimental bass? A prototype? It was a year of transition, so I can imagine Paul walking into the Steinway store, they called Höfner and asked for a left-handed bass, Höfner agreed and maybe they thought: "What can we use? Maybe this prototype? Oh, well, it's just for a kid in Hamburg. We'll never know, but it would be typical Höfner. In the end it's very interesting to know that all the replicas are wrong, even the ones we made, ha ha!'
I heard the news earlier this morning and was just totally blown away. I wonder if Paul will release a video at some point of him reunited with his bass! I can imagine him having a private moment reacquainting himself with his long lost friend playing a few familiar licks on the instrument that helped catapult him into superstardom. What an absolutely precious treasure to finally be returned to its rightful owner. So very happy for Paul!
I have a Beatle Bass guitar case story. Nothing was ever owned by a Beatle though. A guitar store in Sacramento CA was closing, everything on sale. I bought 2 basses and one was a Gibson Fiddle bass. I wanted a case for it which the owner said he didn’t have, but he had an old Beatle guitar case in a storage room I could for free because it was so old. He had kept just because it was a early 60’ Hoffner Fiddle case like Paul’s, but it was so worn he never sold it. I never used it because it was cheaply made compared todays cases. So I kept it on a shelf in the garage with some other stuff in it and lost it in the Paradise fire in 2018. It was the exact case with the looks like the one in this video. 😢
I’m so glad he got it back again. I seriously hope he takes it out on tour along with his main and busts it out for “All My Loving”. One of the best basslines he ever wrote IMHO
The best youtube video on Pauls'61 Hofner I have watched, the others don't even put up the photo's of the '61, but show the '63 ! I enjoyed this, well done Nick!
Absolutely unbelievable story! Actually the 3rd stolen beatles guitar, which came back to the light ( Lucy, Lennon’s first j-160e and now this). Incredible!!
I was one of the 600 people who volunteered to keep our eyes open for the lost bass. We all scoured junk shops, second-hand instrument stores, car boot fairs, etc. , with an optimistic attitude that it might be found. I'm very happy that Paul has been reunited with it. The only thing that rankles a bit is that it would have been nice to have received a thank you from Paul. I guess he's too busy counting his money.
List of all the instruments I've read of that the Lost Bass Project should now recover: Eric Clapton's Beano Les Paul. The 8 Stone's guitars stolen from Nellcote in 1971. John Lennon's Framas Hootenany from Help. George Harrison's second Rickenbacker 360/12. George's second Gretsch Country Gentleman. George's Gretsch Tennessean. George's Gibson J200. Hilton Valentine's Gretsch from the House Of The Rising Sun video ditto Chas Chandler's bass. Joe Walsh's Funk 49 blue Tele. Buddy Holly's Stratocasters. Roger McGuinn's first Rickenbacker 12 strings. James Jamerson's Funk Machine and my favourite: Gerry Marsden's Rickenbacker 360/12, last owned by Alistair Parker of Bailter Space who said he left it in a taxi in NYC.
Great to see that it got back to Macca, and Im certain there are luthiers out there that are salivating at the thought of getting it back to a usable condition.
Yes exactly just what I wished for some while ago..getting back that bass sooner or later thanks to the nice guy responsible, a wonderful news and addition to the Beatles saga.
I’m glad he got it back. I had a one-off electric guitar stolen decades ago and I know I will never see it again. I live in a very small place population wise and it will not have travelled outside my location (impractical). It’s sad I will never see it again. I’m glad for Paul though. It must stir up many memories for him
guy who returned the bass inherited it from his father who passed recently. His dad was born in 1960 so would have been 12 at the time when bass was stolen. Would be interesting to hear how he acquired it
Yes indeed, if it is true, McCartney's long lost Hofner being found is big news. However, it would be easily overshadowed by the finding of Jim McGuinn's first Rickenbacker guitar. The 1964 Rickenbacker MapleGlo 360/12 that he used to play the intros to "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man". That guitar was lost presumed stolen back in the 1960s.. What's more, the guitar that McGuinn got to replace his lost 360/12 was his first 370/12 setup with the customised Byrd pickup wiring configuration that he had experimented with on his earlier 360/12. That guitar is also missing presumably stolen. Those two Rickenbackers along with George Harrison's 360/12 basically defined the sound of the 1960s. Those three guitars are probably priceless works of arts now. Fortunately George's Rickenbacker is still in the safe hands of Dhani and the Harrison Estate. And hopefull, if they still exist, Jim's two Rickenbackers will again see the light of day sooner rather than later. Peter's Gibson eventually found him again. Let's hope McGuinns Rickenbackers do the same.
Good heavens, what is up with all these guitars being stolen? I've even heard of guitars being stolen straight out the store! Would all these nimrods stop being criminals please?
What is it with people calling celebrities by the name that they don't actually go by? I gotta ask. No one calls Paul McCartney "Jim", even though that's his name too. Like is it supposed to be an "I know something you don't know" type of thing? If you know you know? Wink wink?
One clue that it is the right bass guitar is the plate under the pickups. This is not on the factory model, but was added when Paul had the bass repaired. After some years of touring, the pickups had come loose. (There are old pictures of the bass with tape holding one or both in place.) Because the wood could no longer support the pickups properly, a plate was added to perform this duty. Paul eventually bought a 1963 model; it had the pickups more sensibly separated for a better variety of sound. He owned both until the 1961 model was stolen. Nice to hear that he has it back.
I am not buying the story that the father of the person returning it never knew it was Paul's stolen bass. Unless he lived under a rock for 40 plus years.
Good news.....However, with the tragic history, maybe Paul might think twice about keeping it. I always enjoy your music Nick. (especially Los Shakers)
The bass can also be seen making a brief appearance in Apple Studios in the Get Back documentary, so we knew he still had it then. However, that may not have been known prior to the release of the documentary as I'm not sure if it can be seen in Let It Be.
The list starts with the latter shows of their April-June '61 Hamburg season, then every show from July 13th '61 to at least the Royal Albert Hall show on September 15th '63.
Im certain the statute of limitations has long since passed. I only suggest that because we know the security guard supposed to secure the aircraft wreckage that Peter Fraptons gear was on lifted his legendary Les Paul. Would love to see the footage of Paul getting his bass back....🎉
The debassist website appears to be unavailable, so from what i've seen, this presentation appears to be the most comprehensive available to the Beatle's enthusiast at the moment. I have found an interview from Meridian (who hold the TV franchise in the south-east of the UK) with Mrs Cathy Guest briefly describing how she she found the bass and went to Mr McCartney's house. In a second interview she refers to the duration between the return and now.
@@chrisst8922 I'm sure there are plenty but I was specifically thinking of basses. They found Jaco's bass some years ago but Jamersons Fender Precision Bass is still missing and it accounted for more #1 hits than any. It's a historic instrument and needs to be found. Having had one of my basses (a late 60's Rickenbacker) stolen I sincerely hope that there is a special place in hell for people that steal from musicians.
Very strange because Paul had stopped using the Hofners once he was with Wings; same with the AC-30 amps. You have the best and more detailed information on this out there. Thank you.
How some British possessors, who might likely say they are Beatles fans, did not recognize the bass' iconic shape let alone the bass itself, is incredible. They must have known and the search gave them amnesty. I guess we're lucky none of them could really play or else it may have been permanently modified, and worn.
I'm sure they recognized the shape, but it's not like Paul's was the only one in existence. Whoever owned it over the years probably thought it was just another Hofner.
The Hofner Violin bass is a rather fragile instrument and it's quite remarkable that Sir Paul is able to keep it in good condition considering the mileage on it all these years.
I think it stands to reason that that will happen. The Lost Bass Project surveyed it's contributors and reported that they overwhelmingly wanted to see Paul using it.
I know Nick Wass and his better half have been working on this for a while. Congrats Nick & Cathy for getting this done! Now if someone can find Eric’s Les Paul and George’s Gretsch Tenny and Rickenbacker 360/12. Cheers-Thanks!
First John's Gibson J160E now the Cavern Bass I'm very happy that it's been found now we hope what @48musicman 's comment happens hahahha. I wonder how Ringo reacted
If I understand correctly guitars have wood grain that is pretty much like a fingerprint. It should be fairly simple to compare to old photos. I know they did that with Mick Ronson's Ziggy era Les Paul.
It would’ve been nice if McCartney had said about 50 years ago that it was stolen in 1972 from a specific location. It might have helped find the base a lot sooner.
Hi, If you compare the photo of Paul with the bass in frame at 0:53 you will see that his bridge and tailpiece is completely different than the one recently found. Paul's bass has the bridge next to the tailpiece, whereas the new one has it next to the bridge pickup. Also, Paul's bass's tailpiece was much shorter than the new one found. You are correct that the switch assembly was also different, but in my opinion this does not appear to be the same one that Paul had. If that is the case I don't know why Paul would not recognize that fact. Check out the photos and compare.
The bridge floats on the top. It is clearly in the incorrect position but only because it was being used as a hat stand and not played. After a proper re-stringing and intonation the bridge and tailpiece would all match. Setting intonation equates to sliding the bridge into home position. Check so e pictures of paul using this bass and you'll see the bridge slides out of position often,which accounts for tuning problems he's frequently referenced.
They were not going to announce this yesterday originally. The reason they did and the reason Paul's website released a statement is because the stupid kid posted the picture on X explaining he inherited the bass and it was returned to Paul. In effect, he broke a confidentiality agreement that was in place. Paul and the others involved in finding the bass wanted to hold off on announcing the news until all possible legal issues had been resolved or until they were sure nobody would try to present a legal challenge to the bass. This is why they announced it yesterday and why Paul's website released that statement. The kid is an actor and my gut feeling is he broke the confidentiality agreement and posted that pic to make a name for himself. I got this info from someone high up in the Project, by the way.
I surmised as much without reference to the Project. Had that boy held his tongue, there would have been time for Hofner to repaire the instument and later this year, McCartney would have performed a gig showing off his new (old) guitar. In this way confidentialities would be more likely to be preserved.
I don't see what the big deal was. Nobody is going to claim it. Besides, wasn't it the wife of the deceased son who returned it? Who is this kid anyway?
The Loss Bass Project didn't find it at all. The woman never saw them on the news and the Project have tried to take all the credit for finding the bass. She found it and approached Paul McCartney's representatives herself. The Lost Bass Project ARE NOT responsible for finding it!!!
@@sophiaevans9908 That's ridiculous. The Lost Bass project did all the detective work and traced it back to the family that now had it. She had no idea what that bass was or who it belonged to until she saw news or articles about it, from The Lost Bass project. The project were the ones who hired Scott and Naomi Jones. They are not trying to take all the credit. Who cares anyways, as long as Paul has it back now, that's all that matters.
I'm hopeful that paul has a chace to have the bass worked on and he plays it live somewhere live they didn't exactly keep top ecurity on these things yet in 72 i suppose it wasn't seen as and icon at that time musician have a way of making iconic songs on instruments then give them to friends.
If you want to know MORE about Paul McCartney's Hoeffner Bass in detail, Keith does a fabulous job explaining ALL the details of that Bass, and you will see factual info that would absolutely identify this Bass as being Paul McCartney's real Bass. He is also a LEFT HANDER, and the electronics were done for him. Check out the Five Watt World video here: ua-cam.com/video/4p_CSfhOaWs/v-deo.html I'll cross reference you to Keith over there as well so you can chat with one another about this. If you don't know Five Watt World, you will love it. Thanks for this video Nick!
Just a little confused, as the original missing bass was the 1961 model, with the two pickups (no guard), positioned almost together at the neck. The bass shown as being ‘found’, shows a twin pickup guard and a very unusual forward mounted bridge (not sure which year model this was). Most images of the missing bass are of the 1961 version.
Paul got the bass refinished and refurbished in 1964 not long after getting his 63. The guard is a pickup mounting bracket to secure the pickups to the body, as Paul was having issues with them prior. The sunburst is also way closer to a Fender harsh sunburst than the one given from the factory. Check the Revolution or Ballad Of John & Yoko music videos to see it in the refurbished form back in 68 & 69
Reminds me of the guy who purchased a J160e at a thrift store somewhere in the U.S. which turned out to be one of John Lennon’s long lost guitars. Julian ended up with it as he should have.
@@jsullivan2112 I stand corrected. I was confusing what actually happened with what I would have done with the guitar: I would have retuned it to Julian.
@@timmckeown1313 Yeah I have no idea, it’s a fair point. John probably would have told him to keep it if he were still alive. He gave several away. Guitars were merely tools to him and he bought a replacement shortly afterwards anyway, which is the one we see him using the most and eventually got sanded down to the bare wood.
I wonder what Paul had to pay to get it back. George had to trade several guitars to get Lucy back when it was stolen, but wasn’t quite so legendary at that point. This may be one of the most valuable guitars in the world.
I would be surprised if any money changed hands at all. Perhaps there was a monetary thank you. I've read that Lucy was in the hands of someone who was described as being totally unreasonable whereas all the individuals in this case are people who just did something silly.
Just to help (I'm English), the 'H' in Twickenham is silent. It's the same with the vast majority of conjoined placenames. When a placename is separated, like West or East Ham, then the 'H' IS sounded. I hope that helps in your future presentations.
I had heard of Nick Wass prior to me returning it. Lies that i has ever known him or contacted him. Ruaidhri is my son. The condition was excellent and everything original. What a load of waffle!
@luvcats4132 Hi there! Assuming you are Mrs Guest, please reach out to me at my business email - it's on my channel about page. My intention is certainly not to spread misinformation, as I'm only commenting on the extremely popular article that was published. If you have additional details you'd like to offer forward, perhaps I can help you to share those with the community. Thanks for being a part of rock history!
In the 60's Paul had two Hofner violin 500 basses, a '61 and a '63. Which is the one found in the attic? Which is the one we most see in the Beatlemania era performances?
Yes, I think you are right. The '63 is the real iconic one we all saw him use, and I think he has always had it to this day. The "Lost Bass" story has some holes in it.@@peterlewis3715
So I believe the guitar was found in Sussex? Doesn't Paul have a home there? If I'm not mistaken about this, wondering how close he might have been to it all these years. Kinda wild to think about.
I do love the story but unfortunently I do have to inform you and every viewer of this video to beware of that website link, apparently it has malvertisings in it by that I mean use of online advertising to spread malware. Thankfully my anti-virus software activated.
![5 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT PAUL McCARTNEY'S BEATLE BASSES + Hofner Tone Demo [4K]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TqEg30rNmts/mqdefault.jpg)
![5 THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT PAUL McCARTNEY'S BEATLE BASSES + Hofner Tone Demo [4K]](/img/tr.png)
Very happy the bass was found. Now, let’s hope George’s Gretsch Tennessean and second Rickenbacker 360/12 are located. George gave away his remaining Gretsch Country Gentleman to a fellow musician. That would be another awesome find!
Same with the GRETSCH-that Hilton Valentine owned - he had one just like George's-where is the Epiphone Bass that chas chandler played -did it ever resurface ????
thought his tennessean or country gentleman was destroyed falling out of a travel van
according to what I read -he sold it--65-66@@jasonart624he had the Tennessean- he was given a 12 string Vox and a Rickenbacher also by the guitar companies-I think he had bought a Fender 65-66 era
@@jasonart624 It was one of his County Gentleman guitars.
One country gent was destroyed and I heard somewhere Ringo has the other one
Pretty unbelievable. I anticipate that theyll come out with a short documentary about the recovery of it
That would be great. Kinda like what Peter Frampton did a couple years ago when one of his old Les Pauls got back to him
I hope so. Billy Corgan made one when his old Strat was returned after 27 years which was really cool
They better!
Surely this is the Holy Grail of rock history. Great work by the researchers to identify the ambo. We need the full bass story! It's not just any band here, this is from The Beatles.
I agree , stored in a loft for over 50 years the person who bought the stolen guitar without knowing it was , really took good care of it. And his children who inherited it and returned it. I have a feeling Paul will do something in secret to reward them personally.
It's awesome that the bass was still with it's original case!
Was there any case litter?
That case is a Selmer one he got for it in 64', not the original case from 61'.
Thanks for showing correct photos of the missing bass. The major news channels showed photos of Paul's later/backup bass.
As pleased as I am that Paul McCartney's 1961 Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass Guitar has been returned to him, I hope that he continues to use his 1963 Höfner bass guitar as his main instrument, since it would have become his main Höfner bass guitar instead of the 1961 one for a reason.
The 1963 one also looks better in my opinion. As it has that large violin/small cello/double bass look that I love. And now that he has his 1961 one back, he's probably going to start using it in live concerts again.
I never thought we'd see it again, especially in Paul's lifetime.
The one thing I can't get over is the bizarre position of the bridge! I wonder when that happened.
Yeah, I noticed that bridge position too. It’s what’s known as a floating bridge - meaning it can be placed anywhere on the body underneath the strings. Whoever put the bridge there obviously didn’t know what the hell they were doing - messes up the scale
Nick, great video! As a long time luthier/guitar repair professional, I have worked on many Hofner basses of varying vintages. I can say for certain that the changes in the bass from year to year had some overlap. The early flat back Hofners I've seen had solid carved spruce tops and the backs were solid maple. The finish was interesting on Hofner basses in that the factory applied a heavy polyester/gelcoat sealer on the bare wood. The color and shading was sprayed over this thick sealer coat and nitrocellulose lacquer was sprayed as the clear coats. The necks did not get the polyester sealer, just lacquer sealer, color shading and lacquer clear coats. This explains the large finish checks (cracks) seen in some of the older Hofners. It was the sealer coating that cracked. Keep up the good work!
This Hofner was repaired and resprayed in the mid-60's with that Fender-style burst, but not by Hofner.
Great stuff!
(BTW, Twickenham is pronounced "Twickenum" - the general rule in England for place names ending in "ham" is to just say, "um", but not for places like West Ham, which is two separate words).
I say with a little tongue-in-cheek, that the bass sounds cursed. That only its rightful owner can own it. That everyone who possessed it died gives it a mystical quality. Talk about "mojo".
Cursed like James Dean Porsche! Someone is going to chime in and say it killed the original Paul.
If you die after owning something for 55 years, I wouldn't mark that as cursed
@@mf_rat Ergo “tongue-in-cheek”. :)
I’m really happy for Paul, he deserves all the happiness in the world and the help of all those involved in finding it. After all the years of music and magical moments he gave us, this deserved a happy ending.
We all love Paul and are overjoyed that he got this famous guitar back.
Harrison at hall of Fame speech...."WE ALL LOVED PAUL" He's Dead
The most amazing thing about this is that a 60's psychedelic era rock star lived long enough to get his stolen instrument back nearly 55 years later. Hooray!
Better known as a member of The Beatles
@@fostexfan160 Paul McCartney from Wings was in another band as well?
@@warrenallsopp No.....he died in the sixties
John Lennon didn’t get to live to see his stolen Gibson J-160E go up for auction in 2014… 😢
A surprising number of these people are still around or were until very recently.
That's really cool! I'm very surprised to hear it was stolen in the 70s! With all the info we know about The Beatles I'm really surprised that detail hasn't been out before now. Harrisons guitar 'Lucy' was also stolen in 1973 and happily didn't disappear for decades! Now we have the original pair of the instruments that started the ride to fame, Paul's original bass and a couple years back John's 1962 Gibson J-160E was discovered after being left behind by Mal Evans after a Holiday concert in London 1963! Your right Nick, I've been thinking the same thing, it has to be spotted! People of Liverpool, it's NOT gonna be found in your attic anymore!!🎸😉
From an interview with Nick Wass (Hofner expert) So the reissue you did was better?
No, it was bad, because we discovered something that no one knew. And if they say they knew, they are lying. When we turned it over, we discovered that Paul's bass had a dome, rounded back, not flat, whereas all the '61 reissues, including the copies we made - and a few others we made - have flat backs. We were very surprised. In 1961 the basses had solid spruce tops and flat backs, so it wasn't what we expected. Later at the end of the year the tops were converted to plywood, so maybe this is an experimental bass? A prototype? It was a year of transition, so I can imagine Paul walking into the Steinway store, they called Höfner and asked for a left-handed bass, Höfner agreed and maybe they thought: "What can we use? Maybe this prototype? Oh, well, it's just for a kid in Hamburg. We'll never know, but it would be typical Höfner. In the end it's very interesting to know that all the replicas are wrong, even the ones we made, ha ha!'
Next, we need to find James Jamersons bass!
If got James Jamerson’s bass! At least, that’s what the pawn shop owner who sold it to me said it was…..
Isn’t it in Nashville (Musicians hall of fame museum)?
@@craigbroadfoot1851 That's just a random bass guitar from the same year.
@@ericajohnson7535 Ok that's interesting...that's pretty misleading in that case (I was there a couple of years ago).
I heard the news earlier this morning and was just totally blown away. I wonder if Paul will release a video at some point of him reunited with his bass! I can imagine him having a private moment reacquainting himself with his long lost friend playing a few familiar licks on the instrument that helped catapult him into superstardom. What an absolutely precious treasure to finally be returned to its rightful owner. So very happy for Paul!
Nope he couldnt have played it. As the video states, the bass was unplayable and broken when it was returned. None of the electronics worked anymore.
I have a Beatle Bass guitar case story. Nothing was ever owned by a Beatle though. A guitar store in Sacramento CA was closing, everything on sale. I bought 2 basses and one was a Gibson Fiddle bass. I wanted a case for it which the owner said he didn’t have, but he had an old Beatle guitar case in a storage room I could for free because it was so old. He had kept just because it was a early 60’ Hoffner Fiddle case like Paul’s, but it was so worn he never sold it. I never used it because it was cheaply made compared todays cases. So I kept it on a shelf in the garage with some other stuff in it and lost it in the Paradise fire in 2018. It was the exact case with the looks like the one in this video. 😢
Thanks Nick.
I didn't think I'd live to see this bass found.
Just think of all the great early songs recorded using this bass!
I’m so glad he got it back again. I seriously hope he takes it out on tour along with his main and busts it out for “All My Loving”. One of the best basslines he ever wrote IMHO
Incredible after all these years. I would have loved to personally present the bass back to Paul and see his reaction. Amazing!
he would say thank you and now f.o from my property
The best youtube video on Pauls'61 Hofner I have watched, the others don't even put up the photo's of the '61, but show the '63 ! I enjoyed this, well done Nick!
Absolutely unbelievable story! Actually the 3rd stolen beatles guitar, which came back to the light ( Lucy, Lennon’s first j-160e and now this). Incredible!!
I was one of the 600 people who volunteered to keep our eyes open for the lost bass. We all scoured junk shops, second-hand instrument stores, car boot fairs, etc. , with an optimistic attitude that it might be found.
I'm very happy that Paul has been reunited with it.
The only thing that rankles a bit is that it would have been nice to have received a thank you from Paul.
I guess he's too busy counting his money.
Bigger find than Frampton's Les Paul!
List of all the instruments I've read of that the Lost Bass Project should now recover:
Eric Clapton's Beano Les Paul.
The 8 Stone's guitars stolen from Nellcote in 1971.
John Lennon's Framas Hootenany from Help.
George Harrison's second Rickenbacker 360/12.
George's second Gretsch Country Gentleman.
George's Gretsch Tennessean.
George's Gibson J200.
Hilton Valentine's Gretsch from the House Of The Rising Sun video ditto Chas Chandler's bass.
Joe Walsh's Funk 49 blue Tele.
Buddy Holly's Stratocasters.
Roger McGuinn's first Rickenbacker 12 strings.
James Jamerson's Funk Machine
and my favourite:
Gerry Marsden's Rickenbacker 360/12, last owned by Alistair Parker of Bailter Space who said he left it in a taxi in NYC.
Great and enjoyable relation of the story!Thanks, Nick!
I genuinely can not fucking believe this
Glad it’s been found - I hope whoever handed it back was generously rewarded, considering how much it must be worth!
Great to see that it got back to Macca, and Im certain there are luthiers out there that are salivating at the thought of getting it back to a usable condition.
Fascinating. Right up there with Peter Frampton's Les Paul saga. Thanks buddy.
And George’s Lucy.
Yes exactly just what I wished for some while ago..getting back that bass sooner or later thanks to the nice guy responsible, a wonderful news and addition to the Beatles saga.
I’m glad he got it back. I had a one-off electric guitar stolen decades ago and I know I will never see it again. I live in a very small place population wise and it will not have travelled outside my location (impractical). It’s sad I will never see it again. I’m glad for Paul though. It must stir up many memories for him
Great video, facinating story. Truly remarkable turn of events that add to a historic instrument's legendary mystique.
guy who returned the bass inherited it from his father who passed recently. His dad was born in 1960 so would have been 12 at the time when bass was stolen. Would be interesting to hear how he acquired it
Yes indeed, if it is true, McCartney's long lost Hofner being found is big news.
However, it would be easily overshadowed by the finding of Jim McGuinn's first Rickenbacker guitar. The 1964 Rickenbacker MapleGlo 360/12 that he used to play the intros to "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man". That guitar was lost presumed stolen back in the 1960s.. What's more, the guitar that McGuinn got to replace his lost 360/12 was his first 370/12 setup with the customised Byrd pickup wiring configuration that he had experimented with on his earlier 360/12. That guitar is also missing presumably stolen. Those two Rickenbackers along with George Harrison's 360/12 basically defined the sound of the 1960s. Those three guitars are probably priceless works of arts now. Fortunately George's Rickenbacker is still in the safe hands of Dhani and the Harrison Estate. And hopefull, if they still exist, Jim's two Rickenbackers will again see the light of day sooner rather than later. Peter's Gibson eventually found him again. Let's hope McGuinns Rickenbackers do the same.
Good heavens, what is up with all these guitars being stolen? I've even heard of guitars being stolen straight out the store! Would all these nimrods stop being criminals please?
What is it with people calling celebrities by the name that they don't actually go by? I gotta ask. No one calls Paul McCartney "Jim", even though that's his name too. Like is it supposed to be an "I know something you don't know" type of thing? If you know you know? Wink wink?
One clue that it is the right bass guitar is the plate under the pickups. This is not on the factory model, but was added when Paul had the bass repaired. After some years of touring, the pickups had come loose. (There are old pictures of the bass with tape holding one or both in place.) Because the wood could no longer support the pickups properly, a plate was added to perform this duty.
Paul eventually bought a 1963 model; it had the pickups more sensibly separated for a better variety of sound. He owned both until the 1961 model was stolen. Nice to hear that he has it back.
So it was really in someone‘s attic. 🤣🤣🤣 Happy that it found it‘s way back finally. Thank you for the update.
Amazing! Thanks for Scott and Naomi and to everyone who helped them! It was great work!
Who are you talking about. I returned the guitar to PM direct. No one else was involved.
Rubbish investigators 😅 congrats to everyone that didn't find it. Such nonsense.
Thanks for this video. I used to live near Twickenham and FYI the 'ham' part of the town name is actually pronounced 'em'.
I am not buying the story that the father of the person returning it never knew it was Paul's stolen bass. Unless he lived under a rock for 40 plus years.
Some of the happiest Beatle news in years!
Very enjoyable and informative, as I've found all your videos. Thank you :)
Good news.....However, with the tragic history, maybe Paul might think twice about keeping it. I always enjoy your music Nick. (especially Los Shakers)
The bass can also be seen making a brief appearance in Apple Studios in the Get Back documentary, so we knew he still had it then. However, that may not have been known prior to the release of the documentary as I'm not sure if it can be seen in Let It Be.
It would be cool to see a list of public performances that Paul played the bass in. Possibly with pics.
The list starts with the latter shows of their April-June '61 Hamburg season, then every show from July 13th '61 to at least the Royal Albert Hall show on September 15th '63.
@@mattpadden5631 Thanks! Sorry, do have a link to the list?
Yay! Been folllowing the recent articles about this.
Im certain the statute of limitations has long since passed. I only suggest that because we know the security guard supposed to secure the aircraft wreckage that Peter Fraptons gear was on lifted his legendary Les Paul.
Would love to see the footage of Paul getting his bass back....🎉
How wonderful! A musician gets awfully attached to their axe. Congratulations to all involved.
I’m a left handed guitarist and I had a Hofner Beatle bass that was stolen in 1982. Maybe there’s hope yet.
The debassist website appears to be unavailable, so from what i've seen, this presentation appears to be the most comprehensive available to the Beatle's enthusiast at the moment. I have found an interview from Meridian (who hold the TV franchise in the south-east of the UK) with Mrs Cathy Guest briefly describing how she she found the bass and went to Mr McCartney's house. In a second interview she refers to the duration between the return and now.
Now we need to find James Jamersons' Funk Machine.
There's a huge list of missing one's. Say half a dozen Beatles guitars; but my favourite would be Gerry Marsden's Rickenbacker 12 String.
@@chrisst8922 I'm sure there are plenty but I was specifically thinking of basses. They found Jaco's bass some years ago but Jamersons Fender Precision Bass is still missing and it accounted for more #1 hits than any. It's a historic instrument and needs to be found.
Having had one of my basses (a late 60's Rickenbacker) stolen I sincerely hope that there is a special place in hell for people that steal from musicians.
Very strange because Paul had stopped using the Hofners once he was with Wings; same with the AC-30 amps.
You have the best and more detailed information on this out there. Thank you.
Given the time of the theft, I immediately thought of Steve Jones of the Pistols.
I saw a pic of the frets - beyond shot. Hope the refurb job made it playable again.
Good job of reporting.
How some British possessors, who might likely say they are Beatles fans, did not recognize the bass' iconic shape let alone the bass itself, is incredible. They must have known and the search gave them amnesty. I guess we're lucky none of them could really play or else it may have been permanently modified, and worn.
I'm sure they recognized the shape, but it's not like Paul's was the only one in existence. Whoever owned it over the years probably thought it was just another Hofner.
This is going to be a film for sure
What a fantastic video have a wonderful day also happy long weekend nick ❤😊
The Hofner Violin bass is a rather fragile instrument and it's quite remarkable that Sir Paul is able to keep it in good condition considering the mileage on it all these years.
Wild. I was slowly becoming convinced he was going to die without ever having gotten it back. The years are flying by.
I hope Paul does a video of the bass when it is repaired.
I think it stands to reason that that will happen. The Lost Bass Project surveyed it's contributors and reported that they overwhelmingly wanted to see Paul using it.
"Get back to where you once belonged!"
Thank you for making this video.
I know Nick Wass and his better half have been working on this for a while. Congrats Nick & Cathy for getting this done! Now if someone can find Eric’s Les Paul and George’s Gretsch Tenny and Rickenbacker 360/12. Cheers-Thanks!
I guess Hofner are going to produce a whole bundle of reissue Maccer Revolution Basses and make even more money .
First John's Gibson J160E now the Cavern Bass I'm very happy that it's been found now we hope what @48musicman 's comment happens hahahha. I wonder how Ringo reacted
Unfortunately, John wasn't able to receive his guitar personally.
@@chrisst8922 On God
If I understand correctly guitars have wood grain that is pretty much like a fingerprint. It should be fairly simple to compare to old photos. I know they did that with Mick Ronson's Ziggy era Les Paul.
So glad that the bass is back in McCartney's hands.
Me encantó tu video. Gracias por compartir la misma pasión
It would’ve been nice if McCartney had said about 50 years ago that it was stolen in 1972 from a specific location. It might have helped find the base a lot sooner.
Oh yeah. It's Paul's fault.
dig it
Hi,
If you compare the photo of Paul with the bass in frame at 0:53 you will see that his bridge and tailpiece is completely different than the one recently found. Paul's bass has the bridge next to
the tailpiece, whereas the new one has it next to the bridge pickup. Also, Paul's bass's tailpiece was much shorter than the new one found. You are correct that the switch assembly was also different, but in my opinion this does not appear to be the same one that Paul had. If that is the case I don't know why Paul would not recognize that fact. Check out the photos and compare.
The bridge floats on the top. It is clearly in the incorrect position but only because it was being used as a hat stand and not played. After a proper re-stringing and intonation the bridge and tailpiece would all match. Setting intonation equates to sliding the bridge into home position. Check so e pictures of paul using this bass and you'll see the bridge slides out of position often,which accounts for tuning problems he's frequently referenced.
WELL what about the ROBERT JOHNSON s Guitar s That are LOST?😮
They were not going to announce this yesterday originally. The reason they did and the reason Paul's website released a statement is because the stupid kid posted the picture on X explaining he inherited the bass and it was returned to Paul. In effect, he broke a confidentiality agreement that was in place. Paul and the others involved in finding the bass wanted to hold off on announcing the news until all possible legal issues had been resolved or until they were sure nobody would try to present a legal challenge to the bass. This is why they announced it yesterday and why Paul's website released that statement. The kid is an actor and my gut feeling is he broke the confidentiality agreement and posted that pic to make a name for himself. I got this info from someone high up in the Project, by the way.
I surmised as much without reference to the Project. Had that boy held his tongue, there would have been time for Hofner to repaire the instument and later this year, McCartney would have performed a gig showing off his new (old) guitar. In this way confidentialities would be more likely to be preserved.
I don't see what the big deal was. Nobody is going to claim it. Besides, wasn't it the wife of the deceased son who returned it? Who is this kid anyway?
@@jackeppington6488 He inherited the bass, not realizing what it was and who it had belonged to.
The Loss Bass Project didn't find it at all. The woman never saw them on the news and the Project have tried to take all the credit for finding the bass. She found it and approached Paul McCartney's representatives herself. The Lost Bass Project ARE NOT responsible for finding it!!!
@@sophiaevans9908 That's ridiculous. The Lost Bass project did all the detective work and traced it back to the family that now had it. She had no idea what that bass was or who it belonged to until she saw news or articles about it, from The Lost Bass project. The project were the ones who hired Scott and Naomi Jones. They are not trying to take all the credit. Who cares anyways, as long as Paul has it back now, that's all that matters.
Ringo's Premier kit still needs to be found. Used in the Cavern days and on the Please Please Me Album.
Ringo is known to have sold off his Beatle drum kits, including the 1963 Ludwig Oyster Pearl. I don't know if that included the Premier kit though.
@@jackeppington6488 He sold his first oyster kit. He still has his 3 other oyster kits.
thanks man, was looking for more information and there you are. I sas the news in the "paper". Did I got it right that Paul knew from september 2023?
Great story, hard to believe it was found after all this time. I had one of these years ago, I personally didn't like it that much.
I'm hopeful that paul has a chace to have the bass worked on and he plays it live somewhere live they didn't exactly keep top ecurity on these things yet in 72 i suppose it wasn't seen as and icon at that time musician have a way of making iconic songs on instruments then give them to friends.
If you want to know MORE about Paul McCartney's Hoeffner Bass in detail, Keith does a fabulous job explaining ALL the details of that Bass, and you will see factual info that would absolutely identify this Bass as being Paul McCartney's real Bass. He is also a LEFT HANDER, and the electronics were done for him. Check out the Five Watt World video here: ua-cam.com/video/4p_CSfhOaWs/v-deo.html I'll cross reference you to Keith over there as well so you can chat with one another about this. If you don't know Five Watt World, you will love it. Thanks for this video Nick!
so good news!
Just a little confused, as the original missing bass was the 1961 model, with the two pickups (no guard), positioned almost together at the neck. The bass shown as being ‘found’, shows a twin pickup guard and a very unusual forward mounted bridge (not sure which year model this was).
Most images of the missing bass are of the 1961 version.
Paul got the bass refinished and refurbished in 1964 not long after getting his 63. The guard is a pickup mounting bracket to secure the pickups to the body, as Paul was having issues with them prior. The sunburst is also way closer to a Fender harsh sunburst than the one given from the factory.
Check the Revolution or Ballad Of John & Yoko music videos to see it in the refurbished form back in 68 & 69
Reminds me of the guy who purchased a J160e at a thrift store somewhere in the U.S. which turned out to be one of John Lennon’s long lost guitars. Julian ended up with it as he should have.
Nope, he bought it off a friend in California in the late 60s and had it ever since. It sold at auction in 2015.
@@jsullivan2112 I stand corrected. I was confusing what actually happened with what I would have done with the guitar: I would have retuned it to Julian.
@@timmckeown1313 Yeah I have no idea, it’s a fair point. John probably would have told him to keep it if he were still alive. He gave several away. Guitars were merely tools to him and he bought a replacement shortly afterwards anyway, which is the one we see him using the most and eventually got sanded down to the bare wood.
Maravillosa noticia,ahora espero que lo restauren a su estado original😊
I lost my mind when I heard last night.
If you stop this video at exactly 1:47, you can see the Cavern bass in Paul's studio: ua-cam.com/video/Opxhh9Oh3rg/v-deo.html
I wonder what Paul had to pay to get it back. George had to trade several guitars to get Lucy back when it was stolen, but wasn’t quite so legendary at that point. This may be one of the most valuable guitars in the world.
I would be surprised if any money changed hands at all. Perhaps there was a monetary thank you. I've read that Lucy was in the hands of someone who was described as being totally unreasonable whereas all the individuals in this case are people who just did something silly.
Good job.
Just to help (I'm English), the 'H' in Twickenham is silent.
It's the same with the vast majority of conjoined placenames.
When a placename is separated, like West or East Ham, then the 'H' IS sounded.
I hope that helps in your future presentations.
Very cool.
That ‘found’ guitar at the photo is not the Hofner violin bass guitar that Paul used during sixties.
I don’t think that Paul would want the person(s) who stole it to be punished. Just a feeling ❤
I had heard of Nick Wass prior to me returning it. Lies that i has ever known him or contacted him. Ruaidhri is my son. The condition was excellent and everything original. What a load of waffle!
@luvcats4132 Hi there! Assuming you are Mrs Guest, please reach out to me at my business email - it's on my channel about page. My intention is certainly not to spread misinformation, as I'm only commenting on the extremely popular article that was published. If you have additional details you'd like to offer forward, perhaps I can help you to share those with the community. Thanks for being a part of rock history!
In the 60's Paul had two Hofner violin 500 basses, a '61 and a '63. Which is the one found in the attic? Which is the one we most see in the Beatlemania era performances?
'61 in attic, '63 is the one he mostly used in "famous Beatles" days, but the '61 was his back up ..
Yes, I think you are right. The '63 is the real iconic one we all saw him use, and I think he has always had it to this day. The "Lost Bass" story has some holes in it.@@peterlewis3715
So I believe the guitar was found in Sussex? Doesn't Paul have a home there? If I'm not mistaken about this, wondering how close he might have been to it all these years. Kinda wild to think about.
Absolutely right. I know the area well, you could drive from Hastings to Mr McCartney's house in half an hour.
No; the question I want answered is what happened to the two AC30's?
Oh yeah good idea because those AC30's have a seriel number but I don't know what is it.
I do love the story but unfortunently I do have to inform you and every viewer of this video to beware of that website link, apparently it has malvertisings in it by that I mean use of online advertising to spread malware. Thankfully my anti-virus software activated.
Biggest find since Trujillo found Jaco's Bass of Doom.
Amazing. The statute of limitations for the theft would have long expired. I’m not sure about knowing possession of stolen items that old is.
If that bass can talk. What stories could tell us about its journey.
"Fookin hell, doesn't anyone ever dust up here? Hello? Hello is anybody there? Hellllloooo?"