What might be so particular about that specific instrument, they may marvel on studying that Hofner, the German firm that manufactured the guitar, have arrange a web site devoted to discovering it?

Musicians, nevertheless, will perceive. Paul purchased his violin-shaped Hofner bass in Germany earlier than the Beatles grew to become well-known. After that, it actually accompanied him by way of their gigs in Hamburg then at Liverpool’s Cavern and on by way of their early hits and their first LP.

Once the Beatles’ fame had been established, Hofner offered Paul with a greater, extra elaborate instrument, which he used because the Beatles toured the world, and as their music itself grew to become extra elaborate.

But he at all times took that first £30 bass as back-up, and for the emotional consolation it had supplied as a stepping-stone to success.

It was a fond possession till in 1969, it went walk-about in the course of the recording of the Beatles’ final album Let It Be – now re-released and prolonged for tv because the hit Get Back documentary.

That Paul McCartney ought to nonetheless be pining for a bass guitar he hasn’t owned or performed for 54 years could sound a bit odd to non-musical folks.

So, maybe, there was a dramatic justice in that an instrument that traced so carefully the Beatles’ careers ought to go lacking as they recorded their previous few songs collectively.

When Paul first began taking part in with John Lennon within the Quarry Men within the late Fifties, the bass participant who accompanied his hero, Elvis Presley, was a man known as Bill Black, who used a really giant stand-up double bass at gigs and on recording periods.

The instrument was so large it needed to be strapped to the roof of their station wagon as Elvis’s little group drove from city to city.

Like a rock and roll museum curator, Paul now owns that double bass which was performed on Heartbreak Hotel, maintaining it in his recording studio.

What is ironic is that he doesn’t have his personal a lot smaller electrical bass guitar. Not that the bass was ever envisaged as a profession path for the younger McCartney, as a result of being a bass participant was hardly an attractive picture.

“Bass was the thing that the fat boys got lumbered with, and were asked to stand at the back and play,” he would recall. “I definitely didn’t want to do that.”

What he did wish to do was to face on the microphone and sing, however the musician in him knew that each band wanted a bass. If you aren’t a musician it’s possible you’ll marvel why that’s so, as a result of many people can typically scarcely hear the bass, not consciously anyway, and we definitely don’t go round buzzing the tunes it performs.

When it isn’t there, nevertheless, we definitely miss it, as a result of not solely does the bass dictate how a track feels, however it works as a bridge with the drums, thus offering the rhythm.

Everyone likes and acknowledges the sound of the lead guitar (consider the introduction to The Rolling Stones’ Satisfaction or Eric Clapton’s Layla), however solely musicians perceive that the bass, the shyest instrument in any rock band, can be typically a very powerful.

In 1960, the Beatles, then consisting of Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison, have been a 3 guitar rock band.

They knew how vital a bass was to the American teams they listened to from Detroit’s Motown label, however none of them owned such an instrument.

So, when John Lennon’s faculty pal Stuart Sutcliffe instantly received an artwork prize that gave him £65, Lennon prevailed upon him to purchase a bass and be part of the group.

That he by no means discovered to play very properly didn’t deter them. “Better to have a bass guitarist who couldn’t play than not to have a bass guitarist at all,” was George Harrison’s rationalisation.

Which, in fact, solely labored till Stuart Sutcliffe accepted that he wasn’t musical, fell in love and dropped out of the band – previous to dying instantly from a mind haemorrhage.

With neither Lennon nor Harrison eager to play bass, Paul discovered the job compelled on him; which, on reflection, made a variety of sense, in that he was essentially the most musical of the Beatles − capable of play drums, when Ringo wasn’t there, and piano on a number of recordings.

Paul was Paul, although, and seeing himself as a star, as he at all times did, quickly he grew to become not solely a star singer however a star bass guitarist, too.

No longer would the bass be a shy little instrument. Everyone wished to play bass now that Paul McCartney did, and pictures of Paul with the £30 Hofner bass he’d purchased in Hamburg in 1962 ran world wide. Then sooner or later in 1969, essentially the most well-known Hofner bass in that world went lacking.

The final time anybody remembers seeing it was when the Beatles have been working of their studio within the basement of their Apple firm in London’s Savile Row. One day it was there. The subsequent it wasn’t.

Did somebody take it dwelling accidentally and overlook to deliver it again? Unlikely. Or did somebody pinch it? Probably. But nobody is aware of who?

That such a factor may occur to the Beatles at the moment wasn’t that shocking. Just a few weeks earlier John Lennon had half-jokingly mentioned that he was “Down to my last ten thousand,” which was his reflection on the chaos within the Beatles’ lives after the loss of life of their supervisor Brian Epstein, 18 months earlier.

It got here as a shock when phrase obtained out that Paul’s previous Hofner had gone lacking. But maybe it shouldn’t. Rumours at Apple on the time have been {that a} Mercedes motor automobile had additionally instantly disappeared, by no means to be discovered once more.

If you possibly can pinch a automobile, a bit bass guitar would have been straightforward. Quite individually, after a gig on the Finsbury Park Astoria in 1963, John Lennon’s Gibson guitar was by chance left behind in a dressing room, solely to resurface greater than 50 years later when a constructing contractor in San Diego, California. paid $2.41million for it at public sale.

Should Paul McCartney’s bass ever flip up once more, it’s unlikely that it could ever attain an public sale – there can be many questions requested of its provenance and its journey from Apple in 1969 to the auctioneer’s hammer.

Equally, who would dare bid in opposition to rock and roll curator Paul McCartney? Legally the bass, which might be valued at £10million, nonetheless belongs to him anyway.

So, when you have it, hiding in your attic, why don’t you do the first rate factor? All you must do is go round to his home one evening (for those who’re a Beatles fan you’ll know his handle) and chuck his Hofner bass over the wall into his entrance backyard.

You’ll be making an previous Beatle very pleased.

• Ray Connolly’s memoir Born At The Right Time is now obtainable in paperback and eBook from Amazon