Sold For $8,435
*Includes Buyers Premium
Gorgeous left-handed sunburst-finish Hofner 'violin' or 'Cavern' Contemporary Series bass guitar, signed nicely on the pearloid pickguard in black felt tip by Paul McCartney. In very fine condition.
In 1961, the Beatles' original bass player, Stuart Sutcliffe (who had used a Höfner bass), left the band to resume his art studies. The Beatles were without a bass player, and none of them wanted to start playing one, but the job fell to Paul McCartney, who had been playing rhythm guitar and piano; George Harrison had already been settled on as lead guitarist, and John Lennon had just bought a new guitar and refused to switch. In the British vernacular of the day, McCartney found himself ‘lumbered’ with the job.
Sutcliffe initially lent his Höfner bass to McCartney, who had seen another guitarist in Hamburg using a violin-shaped bass. When he saw a similar instrument in the window of a Hamburg music store, he investigated. Because of the instrument's symmetricality, McCartney could play left-handed without the bass ‘looking daft,’ as he put it. Despite being inexpensive and lightweight, the bass featured a deep, warm tone. McCartney bought the bass he saw in the window and used it for years both in live performances and on recordings. Originally designed by Walter Hofner in 1955, the beautifully shaped 'Beatle bass' remains a highly sought-after piece of musical equipment, with this instrument enhanced furthermore by its influential signer.
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