With the hashtag #tracingthebass you can help to track it down.

The bass guitar could now be worth over £10 million.

Paul McCartney’s first bass guitar, a 1961 Höfner 500/1, disappeared sometime after early 1969. It is widely presumed to have been stolen, but its whereabouts are unknown.

The bass was a gift from McCartney’s father, Jim, who bought it for him. Being left-handed, Jim custom ordered his first bass, through the Steinway shop in Hamburg during a two month residency at the Top Ten Club. McCartney played it extensively with the Beatles, including on such classic songs as “Love Me Do”, “Please Please Me”, and “A Hard Day’s Night”. The bass was used by Paul until October 1963 when he received a new Hofner bass from Selmer, the UK importer.

The bass was last seen in January 1969, during the filming of the Beatles’ documentary film, “Let It Be”. McCartney had left itin the hallway of Twickenham Film Studios in London, and it was gone when he returned for the next day’s shoot.

There have been many theories about what happened to the bass guitar. Some believe that it was stolen by a crew member or a fan. Others believe that McCartney himself sold it or gave it away. Still others believe that it is still out there somewhere, waiting to be found.

In 2019, Höfner launched a campaign called #tracethebass to try to find the missing instrument. The company offered a reward of €100,000 (about $110,000) for information leading to its recovery.

So far, the campaign has not been successful in finding the bass guitar. However, it has raised awareness of the case and kept the hope alive that one day it will be found.

The disappearance of Paul McCartney’s Höfner 500/1 is one of the great mysteries of rock and roll. It is a reminder that even the most iconic and valuable instruments are not immune to theft. And it is a testament to the power of music that people are still searching for this bass guitar, 54 years after it was last seen. Between 1961 and 1969 this bass changed the world.