Sir Paul McCartney’s lost bass search to feature in new BBC film next month
After years of hunting for the iconic instrument, Sir Paul McCartney’s search for his lost Beatles bass guitar will feature in a forthcoming BBC documentary next month.
Sir Paul McCartney’s search for his lost Beatles bass guitar will feature in a forthcoming BBC documentary next month.
The Beatles icon, 83, will appear in the McCartney: The Hunt For The Lost Bass show, which explores the story of his missing 1961 Höfner 500/1 left-handed bass guitar.
It vanished during the late years of The Beatles and remained missing for more than five decades before it was rediscovered and returned.
The programme, scheduled to air on BBC Two, recounts the global investigation that led to the bass being located after a campaign led by researchers and journalists known as The Lost Bass Project.
Paul’s instrument disappeared on 21 January 1969 while The Beatles were working on sessions that later became associated with the Get Back recordings.
Speaking to the BBC, Paul discussed the significance of the instrument and the mystery surrounding its disappearance.
He said: “I think anything that’s nicked, you want back, especially if it has sentimental value.”
Paul added: “It just went off into the universe and it left us thinking, ‘Where did it go? There must be an answer’.”
The Höfner bass is widely regarded as one of the most recognisable instruments associated with The Beatles.
Paul purchased the instrument in 1961 after being asked to switch from guitar to bass following the departure of Stuart Sutcliffe, who had previously played bass in the group.
At the time, Paul did not own a bass guitar and bought a sunburst Höfner 500/1 instrument for £30.
The bass subsequently appeared on several early Beatles recordings, including Love Me Do, She Loves You and Twist and Shout.
The documentary also examines the work of The Lost Bass Project, a research effort launched in May 2023 to trace the missing instrument.
It was an initiative involving journalists, researchers and Höfner enthusiast Nick Wass, who helped coordinate the search. A public appeal was issued globally in September 2023 in an effort to locate the bass.
The instrument was eventually discovered in an attic after being inherited by Rauidhri Guest, whose father had previously owned it without realising its significance.
In a statement posted on The Beatles’ official Facebook account after the discovery, it explained how the instrument resurfaced.
It said: “Rauidhri Guest inherited the bass from his dad who recently passed away and the bass had been previously sitting in his attic in Hastings, England apparently restrung right handed, and he not knowing who it once belonged to for all these years.”
The bass was inspected and authenticated before being returned to Paul.
It later appeared publicly during Paul’s Got Back tour in December, when it was played during a performance of the Beatles song Get Back alongside The Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.
