Sr Paul McCartney has been reunited with his 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, which he’s pictured playing in 1964 (Picture: Getty)
A bass guitar stolen from Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney over 50 years ago has finally been reunited with its iconic owner – after being found in a loft, gathering dust.
An appeal to find the 81-year-old music star’s 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar had been launched last year in the hopes of finally tracking it down decades after it was stolen from out the back of a van in London’s Notting Hill in October 1972.
Sir Paul, who bought the guitar for £30 in 1961, had played the guitar in the group’s early days in Hamburg and over 250 times at the Caven Club, with the project’s website claiming it ‘was the bass that powered Beatlemania’.
It’s also the bass he played while recording hit songs including Love Me Do, Twist and She Loves You and remained in use by Sir Paul until the band’s break-up in 1969.
Thanks to its importance to him and his music, the guitar is now thought to be worth as much as £10million.
However, despite the temptation to sell, Sir Paul, who scored his final, record-breaking number one with the Beatles in November, has been lucky enough to have his valuable – and irreplaceable – guitar, still in its original case, returned to him.
The instrument, which could be worth as much as £10m, was what he played throughout his days in the Beatles (Picture: Getty)
The music icon has confirmed its return, and shared his gratitude (Picture: Getty)
The bass, which he bought for £30 in 1961, was stolen out of a van in 1972 (Picture: Redferns)
It came after the owners realised what they might have in their possession following the global interest which was sparked in the campaign last September.
According to The Lost Bass Project, they were able to follow the journey of the guitar from its theft to the landlord of a pub it was sold to locally afterwards before being able to ‘trace the bass over the years’.
‘As a result of the publicity someone living in a terraced house on the south coast of England remembered an old bass guitar that was in their attic,’ an update on the website explained.
A demonstration of how Sir Paul’s guitar was adapted in 1964 (right) with the help of a replica (Picture: Guncotton Guitars/PA)
‘They got this out and realised just what they had. Within days it was back with Paul McCartney!’
The guitar is in need of some repairs to make it playable again, but these are thought to be easily done.
On Tuesday, film student Ruaidhri Guest claimed that the famous instrument had been part of an inheritance he had received, before returning it to Sir Paul.
Ruaidhri Guest has claimed to be a member of the family who found it in their attic and returned it (Picture: Twitter/@RassilonP)
‘To my friends and family, I inherited this item which has been returned to Paul McCartney. Share the news,’ he tweeted, alongside a picture of the guitar propped up in a hallway with a bucket hat resting on its top.
The 21-year-later posted a photo of himself holding the guitar as well, which appears to look identical to the one brought back to Sir Paul, which had been modified in 1964 with a custom-made single pickup frame to hold both pickups, new knobs and resprayed a darker three-part sunburst.
On Thursday, the Beatles chart-topper confirmed the return of his prized possession.
‘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,’ a statement on his website read.
‘The guitar has been authenticated by Höfner and Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved.’
An appeal, called the Lost Bass Project, gained media attention last year as people tried to help locate the instrument (Picture: Redferns)
Sir Paul and his team are said to be in touch with the family who returned it and ‘likely to pay them a reward’, according to The Sun.
A source told the publication: ‘Sir Paul is absolutely thrilled. It is an unbelievable turn of events and he is over the moon to be reunited with it.
‘It was always close to his heart, and was known as his favourite instrument – so it is great that it has got back to where it once belonged!’
The insider also praised those who returned it as showing ‘there are some great people in the world’ as they resisted the lure of selling such a valuable item.
Sir Paul performing with his Beatles bandmates Ringo Starr, George Harrison and John Lennon in their film, A Hard Day’s Night (Picture: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty)
A separate source revealed the guitar was ‘part of a collection but was gathering dust in a loft’.
‘Luckily, after it was found the family saw some publicity about Höfner’s Lost Bass project and looked into it.
‘Apparently a relative had inherited it and had no idea where it had come from or its history.
‘It is amazing to think it is so central to Beatlemania and part of history – and it was just lying in the loft.’
Sir Paul and drummer Sir Ringo Starr, 83, are the remaining Beatles members, following John Lennon being fatally shot in December 1980, and George Harrison’s death aged 58 in November 2001.
Metro.co.uk has contacted a rep for Sir Paul McCartney for further comment.
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