Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Ronn, I think we should not take McCartney's statement too serious. To me he just wanted to emphasise that his Rickenbacker was a true left handed instrument, in opposite to his Hofner, and his Casino (symmetrical, too) and his Texan and his Esquire.
The Hofner was only a side aspect.
And another statement from Paul: "I ordered another Hofner bass...because it was the only left-handed bass available and I thought I'd better have a spare" about his second Hofner 500/1 (Babiuk, Beatles Gear, p.98).

John, I've got plenty of righty basses I play upside-down, most people don't notice anyway, and it never stopped Hendrix! Of the 4 basses I'll play tonight 2 will be righties.

Wolfgang(my Grandfather's brother's name), I can understand that. I have vivid memories of 25+years ago, getting my first left-handed bass, still have it and play it regularly.

And to his first bass Andy Babiuk comes to the following conclution: "In fact the Hofner was specially orderd for McCartney as a left hander. Most likely he saw the bass , realised it would look good when played left-handed, and enquired about a custom bass. With Hofner based in Germany it would have been relatively easy to order a left-handed instrument" (Babiuk, Beatles Gear. p.49)

Ronn, my first instrument was a Beatle Bass I bought in 1970 (I am right handed, so was the bass), but I gave it away to a friend when I moved to Hamburg in 1977.
A new 500/1 is about $1500 here in Germany, and I am sure, Hofner could deliver a left-handed bass
without any problems

Well, now I'll have to tell you that I (right handed) bought a lefty Hofner from a guy in 1968 for $85. I flipped the nut and bridge inserts and played it till someone stole it out of my car in 1971. If I'd kept that bass and my 1972 4001 Deluxe (sold in 1975), I could be almost $4000 richer now thanks to EBay. Curses!

Paul did not order the Cavern bass period. Pete/ Paul/ Tony Sheridan all report the lefty on the wall...they were there and it was in Steinways not ordered.They had a gig to get to...no body logo under the guard ( no pics EVER taken of Pauls without the guard) and every Factory lefty we have found has no body logo either.I can prove it. That EBAY bass shown above is mine, and IS the only other known lefty Vintage Cavern to exist. I have told /shown leftybass and many others on another site (WITH MANY PICS).

I have spoken to Mr. Sheridan personally to confirm MACCAS purchase on the spot.

I kept that unknown fact about the body logo or lack of to myself for a while..why not share it with you all?..Nor did he convert it.He was not rich and was Paul nobody at the time. It was inexpensive, he liked the weight,lefty factory, and it is symmy he dug.With all due respect in this case Andy B, was speculating and incorrect.
I will show mine to MACCA...soon.He wants to see it. To be continued.
Like leftybass plays his righty 57 lefty ,I play the rare leftys I have upside down righty.Or do some simple Beatle tunes on it lefty lol.

The bidder is from Japan, and serious.BUt has to wait to see how my meeting turns out.

The Stu bass restrung Pic I got from Astrid is the original, I even have the negative..clearly showing it restrung for Paul. It is the 'only' known photo showing this eventuality.

Ive had 100 500/1 in the last 30 years... keeping the best/rarist I could find. Even though I am a righty I keep a few leftys around.

That Cavern bass started it all (besides Stus)and had some hard core gigging 8 hours a nite in the old days when Rock was Rock..and it even survived through the Beatle years. More rough stuff than on the 63 has ever seen.Too bad it went missing. My guess is it is in Florida today.

I cannot seem to post a pic..I tried \image (then what?)..oh well

Now if I could just finalize this Light Show Rick Bass
...

Greg, instead of writing code to post, just use the handy-dandy "upload attachment" button at lower right to capture a pic from your hard drive.

Your picture must be 500 pixels or less in L and W, and less than 40K in size.

Greg, Good to see ya here regarding these ultra cool Hofners. You undoubtedly have seen and played more Hof basses than most anyone! Paul has summed up the picture post perfectly. It's the easiest system I've found on the net because you don't need a 3rd party to host the pix, you can pull it directly off your own computer! If you are still having trouble send the pics to one of us and we'll put them up for ya.

I've always thought that it was possible McCartney was misquoted or misunderstood in that interview.

The fact of the matter is that we may never know how McCartney really acquired his first bass, he doesn't even know because his reply changes every time he has been asked.

I asked Pete about this in person in Liverpool in 2002, 2003 and 2004, I also spoke with him several times over the phone in 2003. Out of all these times I've spoken with him, he gave me three very different answers when is came to the bass. I've met Tony in Toronto, New York and Liverpool, same thing, different answers every time when he was asked about this.

In Andy's Beatles Gear book, he has it that both Pete and Tony claim it was custom ordered. They have both told me the same and they have both said it was just hanging on the wall too.

My point, after 40 years, the mind can change things dramatically. These people aren't making things up, they believe what they are saying 100% because that is how they remember it.

Here is an example, every known published interview with Chris Huston about where he and Lennon picked up the radio knobs for his '58 325, after the Bigsby install, states that they were bought at Curry Electronics. But, after walking the streets of Liverpool with me, Huston made a revelation that it wasn't at Curry's, but Beaver Radio. It wasn't until we turned the corner at the top of Mathew street that he realised where everything was originally located in respect to Hessey's. His reaction was classic, slapping his forehead saying, "Wait a minute....".

I'd have to agree with Greg when he thinks that the lefty basses from this era didn't have a logo under the guard. Both of the other lefty '61 vintage Cavern basses that have been sold recently don't have one other. One going to a surgeon in Arkansas from Music Ground, the other going to a retired oil guy in Arizona from a collector in New Jersey. I showed front and back pics of the one in Arizona at VoxFest last year in the Beatles' Hofner demo, nobody seemed to get it, lol. What's interesting is that the surgeon's has the later style (right) finger board, while the oil guy's and Greg's have the early style finger board, with fewer fret markers.

Hey it's Hofner, they did it differently all of the time, these basses are an example of the never say "never" clause. Greg's bass is effing rare, I'm not even sure how I would come up with a value on something like that if I owned it and had it for sale.

Nick...
The other Cavern leftys are round backs ..one (a 62) has the transitional Horizontal logo.In fact one of the two deal is rumored to have been a fraud...I would like to see some recent pictures.
Put down the scalpel Doc.
The Japanese bidder ( who bid ) emails me every two weeks . I asked him to retract the bid, and I would stop the auction...The more he mails, the more I realize I should hang on to it. I have plans with it before I decide what to do. One of which I would love to loan it to GG for a 1964 gig before I die..LOL

The one less fret means little to nothing for me.

The 56-58 headstocks were wider. Benker says they would stamp a number on the neck(underneath ) and on the body to match em up during assembly.

Certain dealers say since offered huge money I should take it. Or have my head examined. I guess its a sentimental thing, and will keep it for a rainy day.