Paul McCartney has been reunited with a guitar which was stolen from the back of a van 51 years ago in London.
The guitar, a Höfner bass, was used on Beatles hits, including Love Me Do and She Loves You.
It was found in a family's attic in Sussex thanks to a project called the Lost Bass, which aimed to find the guitar.
The guitar was stolen in 1972, after Sir Paul first purchased it in 1961.
According to a spokesperson, Sir Paul was "incredibly grateful" for its return, the BBC reported.
The star initiated the search efforts after asking Höfner to find the lost instrument. After an appeal for information from the search project, the family who had the guitar reached out after realising they had an old bass guitar in their attic.
Sir Paul was then reunited with his beloved bass in December, and it was verified in September as being the one which was stolen.
"Following the launch of last year's Lost Bass project, Paul's 1961 Höfner 500/1 bass guitar, which was stolen in 1972, has been returned," the spokesperson said.
"The guitar has been authenticated by Höfner and Paul is incredibly grateful to all those involved."
The team who organised the Lost Bass project told the BBC they were thrilled to solve the case.
They called it the "greatest mystery in the history of rock and roll".
"There were no leads, no evidence, really, where it might be," said journalist Scott Jones, who alongside his wife Naomi last year joined the search headed by Höfner bass expert Nick Wass.
"To have found it quite quickly is amazing and we've heard how thrilled Paul McCartney is to have it back," Jones said.
"That's just the icing on the cake to know that bloke we all love is smiling tonight because his old guitar is back."
The guitar has not been valued but was purchased for £30 in Germany in 1961.
The Lost Bass team think it would be worth more than Kurt Cobain's MTV Unplugged guitar, currently the most expensive guitar ever sold after being auctioned off for a record £4.9m ($10.1m NZD) in 2020.
SHARE ME