The World is Right Again

I'd known for decades that Paul's first Hofner bass, the one he bought in 1961 for this unbelievably historical moment and one seen in Get Back, had tragically been lost back in the early 70s and assumed it'd never turn up again. Even if stealing one of, if not THE, most iconic musical instruments in the world would make it difficult for anyone to pawn for some $$crillah. But of course since every time we turn around there's something more amazing going on with The Beatles, just in time for a Valentine's Day Miracle the goddam thing has popped up after HALF A FUCKING CENTURY:

A search to find the missing violin-shaped bass, a German-made Höfner 500/1, was launched by the Lost Bass Project last year, and on Tuesday a student, Ruaidhri Guest, shared a photograph on social media of the elusive instrument.

McCartney’s bass – which could now be worth as much as £10m – became synonymous with the versatile musician during the early days of the Beatles. It was bought when the then unknown group were touring nightclubs in Hamburg, Germany, in the early 1960s.

When the Lost Bass Project attracted media attention last year, the pair received more than 600 calls and emails with tips about the guitar’s possible whereabouts. “So we just filtered through all of those emails and we listened to all of the calls and we found some fantastic leads,” Scott said.

“One of the great things about this project is there’s been such fantastic energy, so many people have wanted to help, give up their time, or have wanted to give information to us and so the next step really was getting information from the roadie Ian Horne, who was able to tell us where it was stolen, and when it was stolen.”

The thief took the bass to his local pub when he realised it was “too hot to handle” and asked the landlord to stash it, Scott added.

“[The guitar] has not left that family so we went to the landlord’s house. The home above the pub, and it stayed in that family for the last 51 years,” he said.

Why something like this can make someone like me, who obviously will never ever come close to knowing Paul McCartney or him knowing or caring that I've ever existed, so happy down to the bone is a testament to how much we love The Beatles still so much even decades after they broke up. My beloved Fender Telecaster has been in storage for 4 years now and nobody cares and I'm guessing they won't when they find it in 50 years either 😜🤗🤣.

"So this thing'll be worth $10M if I just stash it away and pretend it's stolen for the next 55 years...hmmm..."