Paul McCartney reunited with stolen bass guitar, more than 50 years later

Beatles member Paul McCartney has finally been reunited with his iconic violin-shaped bass guitar after it was stolen from a van in 1972, per a statement on the musician’s official website. “Following the launch of last year’s Lost Bass project, Paul’s 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been returned,” the statement read. “The guitar has been authenticated by Höfner, and Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved.”

NBC reported that an online campaign called The Lost Bass Project was initiated in 2018 to find the instrument. A statement posted to the campaign’s website on Thursday read, “We are extremely proud that we played a major part in finding the Lost Bass. It has been a dream since 2018 that it could be done. Despite many telling us that it was lost forever or destroyed, we persisted until it was back where it belonged.”

According to NBC, McCartney purchased the bass guitar for 37 pounds in 1961, while the Beatles were on a residency tour in Hamburg, Germany. The guitar was reportedly located with a family in Hastings, southern England, and was found with its original case still intact. Ruaidhri Guest, who was in possession of the guitar, wrote on X/Twitter, “To my friends and family, I inherited this item which has been returned to Paul McCartney.”