Lost guitars: From McCartney's bass to Eric Clapton's 'Beano'
Guitarists compare the loss of their favorite instrument to the death of a pet. As the search for Paul McCartney's Höfner bass, stolen in 1969, continues, here's a look at how other famous guitars fared.
This bass has written music history
Paul McCartney purchased the Höfner Violin Bass 500/1 on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany in 1961. And with it, one of the most famous musicians' instrument teams was born. McCartney gave the bass a new face, had it rebuilt for left-handers and later removed the mother-of-pearl pickguard. The bass has been missing since 1969 — a British guitar fan has launched a worldwide search 50 years later.
'The guitar was so damn sexy'
With his black Gibson Les Paul Custom, future Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page was a sought-after studio musician in the 1960s.But then in 1970, the guitar disappeared during a Led Zeppelin tour. After a nearly 50-year odyssey, Page was able to reclaim his "Black Beauty" when it was discovered that an airport employee had stolen it and hidden it under his bed until his death.
Claptons 'Beano'
Eric Clapton bought a used Gibson Les Paul in London in 1965 and named it "Beano" — after a children's comic strip. It was stolen shortly after the release of "Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton" and did not reappear. In 2016, musician and guitar nerd Joe Bonamassa spoke out on the subject and said the guitar was somewhere on the US East Coast. He did not want to say more about it.
For his Lucille
B.B. King named all his guitars "Lucille." He is said to have rescued one from a burning house. The Gibson company gave him another one in 2005 for his 80th birthday: A special edition Gibson ES-345, which he played from then on. But in 2019, it was stolen and turned up battered in a pawnshop. The finder received another Lucille as a gift from the blues man.
Johnny Cash's gift to daughter
Johnny Cash had given his daughter Rosanne his Martin D-35 guitar with a dedication — "To my daughter Rosanne, love, Dad." In 1979 Rosanne took the guitar with her on a plane trip. After landing, she waited in vain for the guitar case on the baggage carousel. To this day, the Martin is lost and probably stored in the closet of a collector.
Guitar 'taken hostage'
His Rickenbacker Jetglo 360 accompanied R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck throughout the band's career. During a 2008 gig in Finland, the guitar was taken hostage by a band associate who demanded a million-dollar ransom. The band got their lawyers and a gang of rocker friends to pressure the kidnapper, and finally proposed that he would get $10,000 if "Ricky" was returned. The deal succeeded.
Reason for boos
In 1965, Bob Dylan performed at the Newport Folk Festival for the first time with an electric guitar, angering folk music fans. Soon after, his Fender Stratocaster was considered lost until a woman found it in the attic of her father, who once flew Dylan around the US pilot Victor Quinto. Dylan had left behind both his guitar and sheet music on the plane and Quinto took them home for safe-keeping.
Once a Strat, always a Strat
The Fender Stratocaster was Mark Knopfler's favorite guitar until he discovered the Schecter guitar company's replica. The two became a pair. After recording the Dire Straits album "Making Movies" in 1980, the guitar was stolen and never reappeared. Knopfler remained faithful to the model, however. In 2019, he had bad luck again on a tour: Three more valuable guitars disappeared without a trace.