'Beatles' Paul McCartney recovers guitar bought for 50,000 won after 50 years... What is its current value?

Expected to Exceed the Highest Ever Price in Guitar Auctions

Paul McCartney, a member of the legendary British rock band The Beatles, reunited with his lost bass guitar about three months after launching a worldwide campaign to find it in 1969.

Sold to a pub then left neglected in a home's attic... "Value exceeds 8 billion KRW"

Paul McCartney's missing bass guitar featured in the 2021 documentary 'Get Back'.
[Photo source=BBC capture]

On the 15th (local time), British media outlets including BBC and The Guardian reported that McCartney's spokesperson announced on McCartney's official website that "Paul's 1961 H?fner 500/1 bass guitar, stolen in 1972, has been returned." They also confirmed the authenticity of the bass guitar through H?fner, the manufacturer, and conveyed that "Paul is extremely grateful to everyone involved."

H?fner revealed that at the end of September last year, they found McCartney's bass guitar in the attic of a home in Sussex, UK, and after verification, returned it to McCartney in December last year. Earlier, H?fner had launched the 'Lost Bass Project' in September last year at McCartney's request to find this bass guitar. As soon as the project was made public, tips flooded in, including one from a Sussex resident who reported, "There is an old bass guitar in our attic."

H?fner explained that the stolen McCartney bass guitar was sold to a pub on Redbrook Grove Street in London, then moved to Sussex, where it remained in the tipster's attic until now. The bass guitar McCartney lost was reportedly well-preserved in its original case when found. However, H?fner added that "it was in need of repairs to be playable again."

The 'Lost Bass Project' team has not set a value for the recovered McCartney bass guitar, but they estimate it to be higher than the highest price ever paid at a guitar auction in 2020?the acoustic guitar of Kurt Cobain, which sold for ?4.9 million (about 8.2 billion KRW). Another Beatles member, John Lennon's guitar, stolen in 1963, resurfaced after about 50 years and was auctioned for ?1.9 million (about 3.2 billion KRW).

McCartney previously commissioned a global project to find his 'favorite' guitar

The 'Hofner Bass' that Paul McCartney lost and found again over 50 years ago [Image source: Screenshot from the Lost Bass Project homepage]

Earlier in September last year, McCartney asked H?fner, the guitar manufacturer, to find the bass guitar he bought in 1961 in Hamburg, Germany, for 30 pounds (about 53,000 KRW at the time). The company started the 'Lost Bass Project' to locate the 'H?fner 500/1 Violin Bass guitar' that McCartney left in the back seat of a van on Redbrook Grove in London in October 1972 and was subsequently stolen.

This guitar was used by McCartney to play songs like "Love Me Do" and "She Loves You," and reportedly disappeared after the recording of "Get Back" in 1969. This was around the time The Beatles were recording their final studio album, "Let It Be." McCartney often cited this uniquely symmetrical guitar as his most beloved instrument, saying he "fell in love with it the moment he bought it," and he continued to favor bass guitars from the same manufacturer afterward.

Scott and Naomi Jones, a couple who worked as journalists for the BBC, also participated in the project. Scott Jones expressed surprise that one of rock and roll's greatest mysteries was solved so quickly upon hearing the news of the bass guitar's recovery.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.