Paul McCartney: The strange tale of Yungblud's dad and missing Beatles guitar

The Lost Bass Project is appealing for information about what it describes as "the most important bass in history".

But did you know there’s a connection between the guitar and the dad and late grandad of Doncaster rock singer Yungblud?

Back in the 90s, father and son duo Rick and Justin Harrison ran Doncaster’s iconic instrument shop Music Ground in Hall Gate, which attracted the likes of Oasis legend Noel Gallagher, The Smiths star Johnny Marr and Canadian rocker Bryan Adams as customers.

Here’s the story of how a fake bass ended up in Doncaster – and how Sir Paul himself denied that the instrument was his as it prepared to go up for auction.

McCartney bought the instrument for £30 in Hamburg, Germany, in 1961 - but it disappeared eight years later.

The hunt began after McCartney urged manufacturers Höfner to track down his beloved instrument.

The bass features in The Beatles' music of those years, including the hits Love Me Do and She Loves You.

Nick Wass is heading Höfner's search project and has joined forces with two journalists in trying to solve the "greatest mystery in the history of rock and roll".

He has collaborated extensively with McCartney and written a book about the missing Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass.

Wass said the Beatle asked him about the guitar during a recent conversation - and that is how the campaign to find it began.

It is not clear what happened to the instrument, which was put away presumably after the Beatles finished filming Get Back in 1969, he said.

"It's not clear where it was stored, who might have been there.

"For most people, they will remember it... it's the bass that made the Beatles," Wass said.

Husband and wife team Scott and Naomi Jones are helping with the search.

Scott became curious about the guitar's fate after watching McCartney's 2022 headline set at Glastonbury and approached Höfner - only to discover they were already having conversations about tracking it down after being urged to by their famous client.

He said: "Paul said to Höfner 'surely if anyone can find this guitar, it's you guys', and that's how it all came about.

"Now we're working together on this. Nick has more technical knowledge about this guitar than anyone on the planet, and me and my Naomi are bringing some investigative skills."

Jones said: "Höfner's hunch is that someone will come forward purely on good will, and whoever has it probably doesn't even realise what it is they've got.

"It would be nice if it could go on public display one day - and if the only way someone is going to come forward is to make some money from it, then so be it, because at least it would be found.

"But ultimately we're just doing this to get Paul his guitar back. We know via Nick and Höfner that it's what he's always wanted."

So what’s the Doncaster connection?

The guitar supposedly surfaced in a music shop in Luton in the 60s, but was then traded to a friend in 1971.

It later ended up in a music shop in Biggleswade where it caught the attention of Justin Harrison, the father of Doncaster singer Yungblud, a vintage guitar dealer who ran Doncaster’s Music Ground with his dad Rick, who died earlier this year.

The Harrisons went public with the find in a flurry of media publicity – and it was offered for auction at Sotheby’s in 1994.

But without proper documentation, it didn’t sell.

In 1997, Music Ground again tried to auction the bass, this time in Tokyo, through Bonhams.

But the claim that McCartney had used the bass as a Beatle was shot down by various parties, including McCartney himself.

You can find out more about the project to find the lost bass HERE