Paul McCartney’s Famous Bass Guitar Returned to Beatles Singer 50 Years After It Was Stolen

McCartney shared that he’s “incredibly grateful to all those involved” after he was reunited with this 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, which had been lost since 1972.

On Wednesday, the 81-year-old icon shared a statement on his website, in which he confirmed he had been reunited with his legendary Höfner bass guitar.

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“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.”

The violin-shaped guitar — which McCartney purchased in Hamburg, Germany in 1961 — was believed to be long lost after it was stolen from a van in 1972. According to NBC News, it was discovered that the instrument had been “inherited” by a family in Hastings, a coastal town in Southern England.

“To my friends and family, I inherited this item which has been returned to Paul McCartney,” a user by the name of Ruaidhri Guest wrote on X, sharing photos of the Höfner guitar. According to Guest’s X bio, he’s a 21-year-old film student.

McCartney’s first bass guitar was found following a search carried out by the years-long campaign, the Lost Bass Project, which was launched in 2018.

The group shared a lengthy statement on its website on Thursday, reacting to the exciting news that the long-lost instrument had finally been found after 51 years.

“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,” the message read. “Despite many telling us that it was lost forever or destroyed, we persisted until it was back where it belonged. We want to thank everyone who helped with the search, all those who sent us leads and ideas and many who just wanted to lend their support to us. Thank you all so very much. Very much indeed! We did it!”

The campaign also revealed the condition the bass was found to be in.

“The bass is complete and still with its original case,” they said. “It will need some repairs to make it playable again, but a team of professionals can easily carry these out.”

The Lost Bass Project went on to detail how the news of the campaign spread over the years, and how McCartney’s guitar was ultimately found. The group also shared several photos of what the bass looked like “exactly as it was when it was returned to Paul McCartney.” Check them out, here.