Macca's Hofner on Jools Holland

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1003411' date='Oct 28 2010, 09:56 AM']True, but how much would the Beatle bass fetch at auction? - IYHO.[/quote]

A subject much discussed in the days when I used to frequent various Beatles forums and Hofner Hounds.

If you put it in the context of other desirable instruments (as you did, above) then you come out with an answer in six figures ... somewhere between £100k and £900k. On principle, I'd guess about £250k.

BUT

That's not really the context, is it? Some may find this contentious (especially if they're under 40) but Macca's bass is, quite simply, the most valuable single instrument on the planet.

Whoah there, boy! Going over the top a bit, aren't we?

Nope.

The Beatles are the biggest thing ever to happen in popular music, and yes, I do remember Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and the Bay City Rollers.

If you're aged 45-65 then you grew up listening to The Beatles, to bands copying The Beatles, and to bands heavily influenced by The Beatles. They weren't a pop group, they were the environment.

If you're aged under 45, then you grew up listening to your parents listening to The Beatles, and all your favourite bands have a massive debt to The Beatles.

And all of that applies not just in Britain, or the States, but worldwide.

There is NO other band or artist about whom that statement applies.

Lennon and Harrison were filmed and recorded playing loads of different guitars. Their early-60's Rickenbackers are probably the most iconic, but it's not particularly clear cut and most people have little idea which guitars were played on which tracks.

Macca is indelibly associated with just two basses, the Hofner and the Rickenbacker, both unique, both easily identified, both utterly iconic.

If either of them were put up for auction by Macca, you'd be attracting people like Bill Gates, Roman Abramovich, Sheikh Makhtoub, the Sultan of Brunei. The auction would become a big swinging dick contest, and the bass would sell for well over £1m. Just to make a point. I'm richer than they are.

It would end up in a bullet-proof glass case mounted on the wall of the main Reception at the Burg al'Arab in Dubai. Just another status symbol.

Hey ... you asked me!

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1003461' date='Oct 28 2010, 10:30 AM']A subject much discussed in the days when I used to frequent various Beatles forums and Hofner Hounds.

If you put it in the context of other desirable instruments (as you did, above) then you come out with an answer in six figures ... somewhere between £100k and £900k. On principle, I'd guess about £250k.

BUT

That's not really the context, is it? Some may find this contentious (especially if they're under 40) but Macca's bass is, quite simply, the most valuable single instrument on the planet.

Whoah there, boy! Going over the top a bit, aren't we?

Nope.

The Beatles are the biggest thing ever to happen in popular music, and yes, I do remember Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and the Bay City Rollers.

If you're aged 45-65 then you grew up listening to The Beatles, to bands copying The Beatles, and to bands heavily influenced by The Beatles. They weren't a pop group, they were the environment.

If you're aged under 45, then you grew up listening to your parents listening to The Beatles, and all your favourite bands have a massive debt to The Beatles.

And all of that applies not just in Britain, or the States, but worldwide.

There is NO other band or artist about whom that statement applies.

Lennon and Harrison were filmed and recorded playing loads of different guitars. Their early-60's Rickenbackers are probably the most iconic, but it's not particularly clear cut and most people have little idea which guitars were played on which tracks.

Macca is indelibly associated with just two basses, the Hofner and the Rickenbacker, both unique, both easily identified, both utterly iconic.

If either of them were put up for auction by Macca, you'd be attracting people like Bill Gates, Roman Abramovich, Sheikh Makhtoub, the Sultan of Brunei. The auction would become a big swinging dick contest, and the bass would sell for well over £1m. Just to make a point. I'm richer than they are.

It would end up in a bullet-proof glass case mounted on the wall of the main Reception at the Burg al'Arab in Dubai. Just another status symbol.

Hey ... you asked me![/quote]
... and thank you, I thought you'd have something to say on this subject.

[ZMech]

sounds like it's time to go get my coat...

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Zach' post='1003500' date='Oct 28 2010, 11:01 AM']sounds like it's time to go get my coat...[/quote]
Get mine as well because I'm going to revise my estimate upwards too.

[keeponehandloose]

How much would a Macca bass burned by Hendrix be worth then??

[MB1]

MB1.
Would be worth a Fortune! "IF" its the Original that is! and not just another Spartacus!

[lojo]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1003461' date='Oct 28 2010, 10:30 AM']Macca is indelibly associated with just two basses, the Hofner and the Rickenbacker, both unique, both easily identified, both utterly iconic.

If either of them were put up for auction by Macca, you'd be attracting people like Bill Gates, Roman Abramovich, Sheikh Makhtoub, the Sultan of Brunei. The auction would become a big swinging dick contest, and the bass would sell for well over £1m. Just to make a point. I'm richer than they are.[/quote]

Id gamble this is not far from the truth, and Abramovich would tell his manager to play it on the wing or else

I may have missed something, but have we established yet, if he does indeed play the real bass, or copies

If copies, where is it, under Sir Pauls bed?

Edited October 28, 2010 by lojo

[Happy Jack]

No copies - he plays the real one, live on stage, an' everything.

Famously, it still has the set list from the 1966 tour of the USA taped to the top.

[MB1]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1003900' date='Oct 28 2010, 03:40 PM']No copies - he plays the real one, live on stage, an' everything.

Famously, it still has the set list from the 1966 tour of the USA taped to the top.[/quote]

MB1.
Seem to remember reading somewhere...
Hofner presented him with another violin bass (one off) with gold hardware? which as the story goes was stolen?... and to this day has never been found?...

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='MB1' post='1003959' date='Oct 28 2010, 04:07 PM']MB1.
Seem to remember reading somewhere...
Hofner presented him with another violin bass (one off) with gold hardware? which as the story goes was stolen?... and to this day has never been found?... [/quote]
There was a story about it being found by Music Ground in Leeds some years ago. I can't find a link for it though.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='MB1' post='1003959' date='Oct 28 2010, 04:07 PM']MB1.
Seem to remember reading somewhere...
Hofner presented him with another violin bass (one off) with gold hardware? which as the story goes was stolen?... and to this day has never been found?... [/quote]

It's true they tried to present him with (I think) the first 5000/1 in 1968 as a publicity stunt - but he didn't want it. I don't think he actually ever owned it, so I doubt it was stolen. Perhaps he took it, then gave it away.

There are also persistent rumours of his "other" 500/1 (you know, the one he kept secret) which he lost his temper with while touring Tito-era Yugoslavia, smashed up on stage, and hurled into the audience. It was secretly salvaged by a secret person who secretly restored it, secretly kept it hidden for 40 years, but is now offering to sell it secretly.

The self-evident truth of this story is not even slightly dented by the fact that The Beatles never played in Yugoslavia, nor the improbability of Macca smashing any piece of equipment on stage, nor the total absence of any corroborating evidence whatsoever.

And if you're thinking that this is an entirely made-up story designed to persuade some gullible clown to part with his hard-earned wonga, then shame on you for a cynic.

[lojo]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1004148' date='Oct 28 2010, 06:01 PM']It was secretly salvaged by a secret person who secretly restored it, secretly kept it hidden for 40 years, but is now offering to sell it secretly.[/quote]

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1004148' date='Oct 28 2010, 06:01 PM']... There are also persistent rumours of his "other" 500/1 (you know, the one he kept secret) which he lost his temper with while touring Tito-era Yugoslavia, smashed up on stage, and hurled into the audience ...[/quote]
That must have been some time between McCartney's death and the loss of the [i]Hot As Sun[/i] album.

[MB1]

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1004013' date='Oct 28 2010, 04:37 PM']There was a story about it being found by Music Ground in Leeds some years ago. I can't find a link for it though.[/quote]

MB1.
Could have been what i read!
The Hofner Violin presented to Macca by Hofner was stolen from Abbey Road?.

Edited October 28, 2010 by MB1

[Toddy]

[quote name='Toddy' post='1002926' date='Oct 27 2010, 06:52 PM']Re the opening thread,,, knew one turned up in doncaster years ago,, managed to find the article,,

[url="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Long+and+winding+road+of+Paul%27s+guitar%3b+THE+DAILY+MAIL+SOLVES+30-YEAR...-a0111319228"]http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Long+and+win......-a0111319228[/url]

not an original hamburg bass, but a gold plated one given to a 22 yr old macca by Hofner...[/quote]

[Happy Jack]

What a load of tosh, exactly the sort of badly-researched credulous nonsense I'd expect from that pile of poo.

Presumably they were too stupid to recognise that this was a piece of made-up PR blurb from Music Ground - who (by an amazing coincidence) were just about to auction the instrument in Tokyo to a bunch of Beatles-mad Japanese businessmen.

Why does anybody read the Mail?

[Low End Bee]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1004765' date='Oct 29 2010, 09:04 AM']Why does anybody read the Mail?

[/quote]

How else am I going to find out about dole scrounging lesbian gysies eating the Queen's swans?

[oldslapper]

Slightly off to the right here, but did I see an Ashdown head, slightly to the right, behind Sir Macalar?

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1004774' date='Oct 29 2010, 09:08 AM']How else am I going to find out about dole scrounging lesbian gysies eating the Queen's swans?[/quote]
Read the Express?

[daz]

[quote name='keeponehandloose' post='1003008' date='Oct 27 2010, 09:02 PM']So how exactly would that work?[/quote]

Any speaker can act as a mike and vise versa.

ps. Id crawl over broken glass to get away from Paul McCartney and his stupid shakey face going wooooooo all the time AGhhh!!

Man I l[b]oathe [/b]the Beatles.

There ive said it. whos with me?

Edited October 29, 2010 by daz

[LeoFender]

[quote name='daz' post='1004804' date='Oct 29 2010, 09:33 AM']ps. Id crawl over broken glass to get away from Paul McCartney and his stupid shakey face going wooooooo all the time AGhhh!![/quote]

Brilliant nearly spat my tea all over the screen, he is such an affected dickhead, but I suppose thats the trappings of lifetime superstardom.

Does anyone else find his drummer unbearably cymbal busy, he always seem to over play and looses any feel and groove. Im sure in the right setting he would be a great drummer? Maybe just me but he doesnt seem to suite the band or music

[Jigster]

Hum. I'd expect some 'feedback' on that Daz

[cd_david]

[quote name='daz' post='1004804' date='Oct 29 2010, 09:33 AM']Man I l[b]oathe [/b]the Beatles.

There ive said it. whos with me?[/quote]

Dont hate them but i HATE the quest from people to sound musically knowledgeable by claiming t love them ie Alan Partridge types.

They wrote some brilliant songs, but they also wrote some UTTER sh*te and also some mediocre songs and Macca is a good player, nothing exceptional, Its amazing what nostalgia can do for a reputation.

[Happy Jack]

Oh dear.

Oh dear oh dear.

Oh dearie dearie me.

Allow me to repeat myself.


[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1003461' date='Oct 28 2010, 10:30 AM']The Beatles are the biggest thing ever to happen in popular music, and yes, I do remember Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and the Bay City Rollers.

If you're aged 45-65 then you grew up listening to The Beatles, to bands copying The Beatles, and to bands heavily influenced by The Beatles. They weren't a pop group, they were the environment.

If you're aged under 45, then you grew up listening to your parents listening to The Beatles, and all your favourite bands have a massive debt to The Beatles.

And all of that applies not just in Britain, or the States, but worldwide.

There is NO other band or artist about whom that statement applies.[/quote]


Put McCartney alongside Clarke, Wooten, Miller, etc. and you'd be right - he's nothing exceptional.

The whole point is that you CAN'T.

Clarke, Wooten, Miller, etc. all grew up [i][b]listening to [/b][/i]McCartney (and Entwistle, and ...), copying him, and trying to improve on what he did.

[b][color="#000080"]"I learned how to play [i]Stairway To Heaven[/i] when I was 16, I mean, Jimmy Page didn't even write it till he was 23, I think that says a lot right there."[/color][/b]

Edited October 29, 2010 by Happy Jack

[oldslapper]

[quote name='oldslapper' post='1004796' date='Oct 29 2010, 09:29 AM']Slightly off to the right here, but did I see an Ashdown head, slightly to the right, behind Sir Macalar?[/quote]


....anyone see an Ashdown head??..............