Have you seen it? Global search launched for Paul McCartney’s missing guitar

The project, which has launched the hunt for McCartney’s original Höfner, said on its website, "We need your help, tracing the bass and getting it back to where it once belonged."

McCartney bought the famed instrument for $38 in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961 (Source: thelostbass.com)

An iconic guitar that Beatles’ star Paul McCartney played on the recordings of hits such as ‘Love Me Do’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘Twist and Shout’ is missing! As such, a global search has been launched to find what has been described by the Lost Bass Project as “the most important bass in history.”

The project, which has launched the hunt for McCartney’s original Höfner, said on its website, “We need your help, tracing the bass and getting it back to where it once belonged.”

McCartney bought the famed instrument for $38 in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961. However, it disappeared eight years later. “This is the bass McCartney played at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg in 1961, at the Cavern in Liverpool, and on those first Abbey Road recordings. This is the bass you hear on ‘Love Me Do’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘Twist and Shout’. The bass that powered Beatlemania – and shaped the sound of the modern world.”

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In late January 1969, when The Beatles were in London recording the ‘Get Back/Let It Be’ sessions, the guitar disappeared and it has not been seen since.

Paul McCartney’s guitar (Source: thelostbass.com)

This led to the musician urging manufacturers Höfner to track down his instrument which prompted this global search.

McCartney collaborator Nick Wass, who has written a book about the missing instrument, is heading this search project and has joined hands with two journalists to solve the “greatest mystery in the history of rock and roll”.

In an interview with BBC, Wass shared that McCartney asked him about the guitar during a recent conversation and that is how the campaign to find it began.

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“It’s not clear where it was stored, who might have been there. For most people, they will remember it… it’s the bass that made the Beatles,” he told the outlet.

The project has also shared pictures of the original instrument along with tips on how to spot fakes. BBC noted that there are a couple of tell-tale signs that can help identify the bass.

The most obvious giveaway is the Höfner logo, which is written vertically on the headstock of the original instrument but was horizontal on later versions played by the musicians.

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