Paul McCartney’s guitar stolen from him 51 years ago was returned – Kommersant

Paul McCartney’s bass guitar, which was stolen from him in 1972, has been returned. The instrument, which was used to play The Beatles’ hits “Love Me Do” and “She Loves You”, among others, was discovered in the attic of a house in Sussex as part of a search organized by the Lost Bass Project specifically for this purpose. The BBC reports this.

Paul McCartney purchased a Hoefner bass guitar in 1961 in Germany. In October 1972, she was abducted from a musician’s camper van in west London. It was not possible to find her in hot pursuit. Members of the Loss Bass project, led by Hoefner expert Nick Wass, have widely disseminated information about the search for the instrument. They did not have any specific information about the possible location. The project participants hoped that someone who knew about the whereabouts of the guitar would simply “of their own free will” report it in exchange for guarantees of anonymity.

During the search, the team received more than 600 calls and emails about the possible whereabouts of the tool. It was possible to establish that after the theft, the thief took the guitar to his town in Sussex, but then decided that it would be so easy to get caught by the police, and he took the guitar to a nearby pub, asking the owner to hide the instrument for a while. As it turned out, the instrument had lain in the house of this pub owner all these years. The guitar was taken away, Hoefner specialists checked it and declared that it was the same instrument. The authenticity of the instrument was confirmed by Paul McCartney himself.

The instrument was well preserved, experts say, even the case was in place. Only minor repairs were needed, which were carried out by Hoefner specialists. Experts estimate that the found bass guitar, which Paul McCartney once bought for just £30, could now be worth several million.

Alena Miklashevskaya