Entertainment
Mar 30, 2026
The Quest for McCartney's Lost Höfner Bass: A Bittersweet Documentary
A documentary about the recovery of Paul McCartney's 1961 Höfner bass guitar, which went missing af…
The latest documentary about Paul McCartney, 'McCartney: The Hunt for the Lost Bass', tells the story of the 1961 Höfner bass guitar that McCartney bought for £30 in Hamburg and became an iconic part of the Beatles' image. The instrument went missing after the band split and was finally recovered in 2024 thanks to the efforts of Nick Wass, a Höfner employee, and Steve Glenister, an ambulance service worker.The film is an amiable tale with a happy ending, but it struggles to fully absorb the sadness and shame associated with the theft. The documentary reveals that the bass was stolen from the back of a Wings roadie van in Ladbroke Grove, London, in the early 1970s. McCartney only recently recalled the incident and revealed that he wasn't particularly bothered at the time, having owned a second Höfner bass.The investigation into the theft took several paths, including suspicion falling on the band Hawkwind and their roadie Michael 'DikMik' Davies. However, the true culprit was someone who stole the bass out of opportunity and later gave it to a pub landlord, leading it to end up in Hastings. McCartney reflects on the theft, saying that he and his friends might have done similar things in their youth.The documentary will be released in UK cinemas on April 2 and 4, and on BBC Two and iPlayer on April 11.
#Paul McCartney
#The Beatles
#Höfner
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