Paul McCartney Reconnected With Stolen Bass After Half A Century

The Beatles used a lot of instruments over the course of their career, but certain ones became synonymous with the band and the individual band members who played them.

John Lennon's Epiphone Casino became well known, as did George Harrison's all-rosewood (and ungodly heavy) Fender Telecaster and the psychedelic "Rocky" Stratocaster.

As for Paul McCartney, no bass is as synonymous with him as the Hofner 500/1 Violin bass.

If you've seen photos or video of the Beatles (and it would be weird if you hadn't) you've seen McCartney laying down left-handed bass lines on a Hofner. That bass was a massive part of McCartney's bass sound thanks to its hollow body and unique shape plus McCartney's use of flat-wound strings (apologies; this is getting guitar nerdy).

Now, he has owned a couple of these puppies, but he bought his first one in 1961 for $38 in Hamburg, Germany, per BBC News. That bass went on to be used for songs like "Love Me Do" and "She Loves You."

Unfortunately, in 1972, McCartney's original 500/1 was stolen in West London.

One of Paul McCartney's iconic Hofner 500/1 violin basses was recently tracked down and returned to him after going missing more than 50 years earlier. (Getty Images)

It's always a bummer when someone steals a guitar like that, but when it's an instrument with so much history attached to it, that's an especially big bummer.

McCartney's Bass That Was Missing For Half A Century Was Tracked Down In Just A Few Months

Last year, McCartney got Hofner to kick off what was dubbed The Lost Bass Project. The aim of this was simple, to track down that Hofner 500/1 that McCartney bought in 1961, or as the project described it. "the most important bass in history."

That sounds like hyperbole… but it's probably true.

Considering the legendary bass was MIA for more than 50 years, it's amazing that it didn't take more than 3 months before it was tracked down in an English family's attic back in December.

"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," McCartney's spokesperson said. "The guitar has been authenticated by Höfner and Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved."

There's no word on what the bass is worth now, but the team that tracked it down believes it could be worth more than the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction. That guitar — Kurt Cobain's 1959 Martin D-18E that he played during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance — sold for $6 million.