Observers of early Beatles performances noticed two things about Paul McCartney's bass guitar - he was playing it lefthanded, and it looked like a big violin.
A lot of guitarists play(ed) lefty - Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and surf guitar king Dick Dale among them - but McCartney must be the most famous. On Beatle hits such as "Love Me Do" and "Twist and Shout," McCartney used his Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, and of course it was on his hip as the band toured America and appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show."
A person or persons unknown ripped off the instrument from a van in Notting Hill, London, in October, 1972. Subsequently, it was sold to Ronald Guest, proprietor of a pub in London, and over the past half-century, was passed around the members of his family.
Not until last autumn, when English journalist Scott Jones wrote an newspaper article about the legend of the missing bass, did anyone think it might be recovered, but when attention came to the instrument, a group called The Lost Bass Project suddenly was flooded with clues, and last week, the guitar turned up, needing a tuneup but no serious repair. Even the original case was intact.
Jones says all this is “an incredible moment” and that he's been told that McCartney is "thrilled" to get the relic back.
Science and history now resume their quest for Nefertiti's tomb.
No comments:
Post a Comment