The famous bass belonging to Paul McCartney and featured in several iconic songs (studio and live) by the early Beatles, including 'TwistAnd Shout', 'Love Me Do' and 'She Loves You', has been found after a campaign was launched globally to solve "rock and roll's greatest mystery."
The instrument, stolen in 1972 from a van in the Notting Hill district of London, after a few changes of hands ended up in the attic of a house in the south of England and the family, convinced that they owned an old bass and not that historical piece, returned it to the surviving leader of the famous British band who said he was "incredibly grateful".
According to the group, made up of Beatles fans and researchers, who launched the campaign called The Lost Bass Project, the original thief did not know he was stealing the instrument that was the protagonist of Beatlemania.
The Höfner 500/1 model was purchased by McCartney for around £30 in 1961 in a shop in Hamburg and later called his "favourite".
He played it in the 1960s at the Top Ten Club in the German city, at the Cavern in Liverpool and in the first recordings at the Abbey Road studios in London.
It was thought to have been lost during the band's January 1969 sessions in the British capital, but research last year revealed it was actually stolen in 1972.
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