Paul McCartney - History of his Guitars & Basses 

First time I heard the Beatles I was struck by how pleasingly prominent the bass was. Up until then very few records had such a powerful depth.

...i play bass and pauls songs have some really amazing bass lines....coming up with those bass lines...playing and singing at the same time is reallyyy not easy as he made it look! What people forget is the thought and creative process all in a rush to come up with the bass line itself that is magic..that alone is pure talent!!!

My God that was DEEP, one wonders where that stolen Bass is these days. It must be priceless, just like the playlist Bass.

So as The Beatles go, the Rickenbacker bass was just as historic as the Hofner bass. Paul's would have been among the first Rickenbacker basses in England, if not the first.

On behalf of Beatles-guitar enthusiasts everywhere, thank you so much for making this video. Sir Paul’s Hofner 500 bass, his violin-shaped bass from the Beatle years, is indeed as Elvis Costello said, “something we expect to see” him with. So true! It’s an iconic link to Sir Paul and The Beatles. Great story. Appreciate you, Ramon, and your hard work.

Paul would sound good with farm wire strapped to a fence post

Being a left-handed guitarist is a pain, take it from someone who knows -- lack of choice etc.. The only advantage I can think of is that people who can't play, come over to your house and say: "Oh, you've got guitars. Can I have a go?" and then they see that your guitars are all left-handed and then they leave them alone.

Seems everyone was waiting for this one

I find it somewhat funny that all the Beatle "experts" claim that they chose a certain guitar for a certain sound when in actuality which ever guitar was the closest is what made it on the track..

The mind boggles at the thought of the research that must have gone into this (all of these vids, actually). Superb!

This channel is excellent! I'm a big fan of music and guitars! The focused, no-nonsense narration is very enjoyable, and completely takes my mind off all of lifes problems. I must add, that in 1961 when my dad was 16, he visited Hamburg and the Top 10 Club. He noticed the band called Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers and bought the "My Bonnie" vinylrecord there and then. The Beat Brothers would of course turn out to have been John, George and Paul with Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe. I can't believe my dad was ever in the same room as John Lennon, and the record, sadly not autographed, but still in perfect condition, sits in my bookshelf now.

Thanks for all those wonderful details, I would have never guessed Paul had/went thru so many different guitars.

What a rich retrospect, what a pleasure to watch it. Thanks for the work input in that.

It would be cool to see Paul McCartney play "Come Together" on that red guitar with the custom paint job on it, especially given the theme behind the paint job.

Still can't believe the 2 major songwriters of pop-rock started in the same local, amateur band. And I still can't understand how their shy side guitarist happened to become a major songwriter as well. That plus their luck at being employed at Abbey road studios and not crappy Decca, and by George Martin and not the mediocre Decca producers the Stones got. I guess why it happened is only a mystery for us, not for them. They probably didn't realize how unlikely this whole miracle was.

Sir I’ve been waiting for days! Great video man! Paul is a living legend!

Love these historic reviews of Beatles guitars. I've never heard of The Wings though.

The playlist on the Hofner was removed in the 90’s. If I remember correctly he sent the bass to Mandolin Brothers Music Store in Staten Island, NY. It went there to be restored and, if I remember correctly, they had to take it off as due to the restoration.

Love these “History of” vids, awesome man. Thanks.

Astounding account of Paul’s guitars. Well done 🇨🇦😊

Fantastic, Man. I just loved it. Many greetings from Mexico city.

You’ve skipped a couple, Rickenbacker also gave Paul a left handed 360/12 in 1964, which he had used in a few Beatles recordings as well as solo albums. In 1968, he ended up getting a left handed Fender Telecaster as seen in the album gatefold of the McCartney album as well as the promo film for Press. He also acquired a cigar box 4 string slide guitar in 2010 which he used in the Nirvana reunion track, Cut Me Some Slack.

Paul was the first bassist that I ever got into and it's always cool learning about his gear, so it was interesting to see that he played a Yamaha later in his career. Great vid, man, I'd love to see another bass one on someone like Roger Waters or Geddy Lee

Thank you so much for such details about Paul Basses and guitars, appreciate your work!

That Hofner (both of them actually) sounded fab indeed! I played a new one (reissue) at Sam Ash and was amazed at the tone and how light it was!? Paul is an amazing melodic bass player, one of the best of course. His choice of notes and runs are atypical but beautiful in the way they always fall into place and sound spot on perfect. Genious really.

The first song Paul used the Rick 4001S on Michelle,and all of Rubber Soul before Revolver …

Btw When the Höfner was restored, the setlist was removed and new strap buttons were put on due to the dog clip kind of ruining the wood on the bridge. He also had the höfner going out of tune problem fixed at the same time as well

Fantastic video once again Ramon. I really enjoy this series you do. 👍

Great job Ramon. Really enjoy these videos a lot 👍

I don't know guitar lingo but I like looking at pictures of Paul

I like how Paul played his instruments for quite a while before getting new ones and he seemed to always go back to them. George and John seemed to get a new guitar every month lol

Great work as always Ramon. Plenty of stuff I didn't know there. A few additions. Others have mentioned the Gibson Everly Bros Paul used around 1973, but he also had a left-handed Fender Telecaster in sunburst. I've also seen him use a right-handed Telecaster (or a copy) with the horn sawn off which looks very odd indeed.

You put lots of time and effort in your videos and I applaud you for that!!!😃👍☮️❤️

Wow, that's an impressive bit of research on McCartney's instruments. Being a McCartney fan, I've owned a few of these basses over the years, the Rickenbackers have always been the easiest to get a good sound from and the secret has been using flat wound strings. For me, Pyramids have been the smoothest tone wise and easy feeling. Pyramids are from Germany and come in short scale (30") and long/regular scale (34"). They're fantastic! Great video, thanks for sharing!

What a great musician and legacy . great video

Nicely done! I really enjoyed watching this!

Great video of paul and his guitars.❤

Good info. What a great background in music Paul had as a child.

Fabulous Doco on PM's instruments. Well spoken

Another great video Ramon!

In documentary about the making of Give My Regards to Broadstreet Paul is playing a left-handed Telecaster, with I think 3 pickups. He also a special, custom made guitar he played on a television performance around the time of Off The Ground

i have or do own one of each the same basses and guitars in this video over 25 years of playing and recording and there all left handed i even played one of paul's back up Rickenbacker basses at Abbey Road in 2000. there all great and fun to play. i know way paul likes them...cause they always get the job done and look cool while doing it;)

Judging by the give away poster that came with Band on the Run album, I believe Paul played his Jazz bass on that album. The album was recorded in Nigeria and any instruments they had would have had to be brought with them. The poster consists of many snapshots made by Linda while they were there in Nigeria. The only bass pictured is the Fender.

Thanks for the work, it was a Great video! You didn't mention what year Paul bought the Cavern Bass. I 'm guessing it was made in 1959 and he bought it in 1960. I could research the dates that they were in Hamburg. The pickups in those days were not very good (a lot of noise and hum); that's probably why Hoffner put 2 pickups at the neck, for more volume. And that is probably why Paul replaced the pickups later (to make the bass useful again). When pickups got better, they could split them and each pickup would provide a different sound, depending on where on the string it was placed. What younger people don't remember were the amps. One side of the line was connected to the chassis (ground) and the other line was the HOT. There were no polarizing plugs in those days. You could plug an amp in, then unplug it, flip the plug over and plug it back in with the connectors reversed. So if your bass amp was plugged one way, and the mic amp was plugged in the opposite way, and your lips touched the mic while you were playing; you would get one hell of a shock. I think that was the first thing musicians learn in those days; make sure all the amps are plugged in the same way! Another thing about the tube amps in those days was the power in watts: 8, 10 , 12, 15 watts; with a 10" or 12" speaker. The smallest practice amp today has more power than that. Imaging playing in a club with a practice amp at low volume. Life was rough back then! LOL

Very fun and informative video. Thank you.

Very nice video. Paul is a genius.

Glad to hear this video was COMIN UP! WOOOOO.

3:34 and why the band "The Ramones" are called that. Joey was reading a beatles biography, and learned paul had changed his name to Paul Ramone, he thought it was cool so announced to his band that he had changed his name to Joey Ramone, and told them the story. The rest of the band followed suit, and thus the band name.

There are pics of Paul in the Ram era with a Gibson Firebird - is that a fluke? Just a guitar that was lying around the stu? Thanks for all of the effort you put into these vids!

I really love the look of that old Kay bass with the big headstock. Speaking of which another cool looking bass I've always loved are the old Ampeg basses with the violin type scroll headstock. I think some company like Eastwood does a copy of those. They look the part! Stay safe man. Thanks.

This is an excellent piece!

Hey Ramon, that wuz really cool as are all of this series... Almost didn't watch 'cause my personal (read 'EGO') interests lie elsewhere, but I'm so glad I wuz able to overcome this malady (:-p) Thanx mate, that was a good one... cheers

Lovely work here. Still, I'd like to ask you to give thought to some bass histories. Wyman, Entwistle and Suire come to mind quickly. But, thank you for producing this!

These videos are wonderful. Thank you so much for posting them. - but I have admit. I have a few neurons that short out every time you say “the” Wings.

In 1964 I was 12 years old. The (30 inch scale) neck on Paul's Hoffner looked so long, and sleek, and sexy. But, you have to remember the guys in those "British Invasion" bands were only 5 foot 6 to 5 foot 9. And most British bass players were guitar players first, so they were accustomed to a short scale neck, and playing with a pick. American musicians were bigger. And a lot of the American bass players at that time were 6 foot tall Black guys, that were accustomed to a stand up bass, playing with their fingers, so the 36 inch scale bass was perfect. Leo Fender felt the 36 inch scale sounded the best too. So a 300 Lbs Hell's Angel biker could ride a 50 cc motor scooter, but he would look ridiculous, and he would't be very comfortable. Just like Joe Pesci would look ridiculous, and uncomfortable holding a 5 foot Terminator canon. For 50 years I've owned Fender Basses, and I am 6 foot 2, but there is another important factor in bass size. The length of my palm (from wrist to fingers) is 1.5 inches longer than the length of my fingers. I was a friend of Jaco Pastorius (a whole other story). Jaco's fingers were 1.5 inches longer than his palms. So he could spread his fingers 3 inches wider than me. He used to pull on my fingers to try to stretch them! lol Obviously this effects playing style. It was impossible for me to reach his chords. But, just playing notes, he could easily reach twice as many without moving his hand, while I was moving my hand constantly. That's not a problem for most bass lines; but for super fast parts short fingers it is a disadvantage.

Very informative. Loved it.

Paul owned a Non Reverse Gibson Firebird VII during the making of McCartney Ram. It's featured on the solo of Maybe I'm Amazed.

Yes!...This is the one I've wanted to see...TY..

Someone once asked Paul what kind of strings he used, he replied "long shiny ones".

Very informative, many thanks........any chance you could do one on Mark King of Level 42 and his fabulous bass guitars?

What a fantastic video have a wonderful day ❤😊

Now we are learning💖

Nice video. I have one correction at 21:04 though. It's actually just a Yamaha BB1200, not a BB1200S. The BB1200S was the active variant, he only played the passive version.

A very, VERY interesting video. Thank you very much. Now it's a big ask.....but could you do a similar video in relation to Ringo Starr's drums and percussion ?

Awesome thanks! great vid.

Great overview. Amazing Paul restrung so many of his basses. A true master of his craft.

RU-vid videos of the 1986 Prince's Trust Concert show Paul playing a 1982 Alvarez 5051.Built to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the St. Louis Music Company the 6 string accoustic had no soundhole . Although a later run had holes cut into the grated area of the body from which the sound was produced .

Awesome vid I too ne er knew Paul used a jazz bass and I never knew he used a squire tele

Wow..! I had the 1960 Burst, down as a gift from Linda. Just show what the net can perpetuate. I'm about to watch for a second sitting; fantastic way to spend 25 or so minutes.

How can the know the exact date they purchased a particular instrument?

What brand and gauge strings did he use on his texan and d-2? i have searched all over the net and no one seems to know

Omg, the best channel on the RU-vid platform I have been waiting for ages Thanks oh by the way you said Paul mccartney on drums at 3:36 recheck it again

His first hofner violin style bass has been recovered a few days ago.

#The Guitar Show … You forgot the Black Special Gibson Acoustic Guitar with Star Inlays on the fret that was used on the set of T.V. Special "James Paul McCartney". That was quite a guitar and is my opinion a classic. All My Best !

That was very enlightening. Could you do one on Bill Wyman ? Id love to know how he got into playing and also about his way of holding the bass straight up like a standup bass. I admire the fact that he NEVER looks at the neck while playing. Its all just another day at work for him. Very cool.

What scale were the Rickenbocker and Jazzbass?

Wonderful, thanks.

thanks very interesting ! On a side note his second band was Wings not The Wings ;)

I'm a left handed Guitarist as well.

Enjoyed this! 👍

Thanks for this. Since you mentioned Paul's father, it might have been worth mentioning his name (James; known as "Jim") - sounds kind of strange that you omit that. (And the Fun Fact that Paul's first name is actually "James"). It might also be worth mentioning that Stu Sutcliffe had little-to-no musical ability (which is different from mentioning that he "barely knew how to play the bass"); might also be worth mentioning that Lennon persuaded Sutcliffe to buy a bass because of their friendship, and that the funds for buying the bass came from Sutcliffe winning the John Moore prize for painting. I think that these kinds of things add 'colour' to the descriptions.

Do you know what acoustic he used on Unplugged?

Do you know the type of amplifiers used ? Especially on WhiteAlbum recordings?

Do you know if he used the Non-Reverse Firebird on the RAM album exclusively or did he use other electrics on that one? Also was McCartney the only electric guitar player on RAM?

Paul used his Jazz Bass on Yer Blues? I always thought he was using the rick.

Me, coming here to learn about his basslines but falling for him instead.

Very nice research! Love McCartney.

Thanks to Paul. Many punk bassists used Rickbenbacker 4001.

He borrowed Lennon 's Hofner club 40 for a spell looked cool in his hands

I'm not sure if you have considered or I might have missed but Billy Gibbons would be awesome Jimi picked them up and he probably loved there early blues style rock from here in my home the lone star state.

Didn't Paul use a Hofner Union Jack violin bass for a very short while? Did he own it or just borrow it for a few months?

setlist is not on hofner bass anymore but great video. I recommend beatles gear book. Its amazing

Yess!! Love these!!😎🙏🙏

A thorough look at the tools used by this amazing musician 🎶

On those Spanish type accoustic guitars ,they don't have to be played with the scratch plate upside down.They are only pressed on with thin adhesive.They can be prised off and left handed ones bought to be pressed on .

Nice job, again.

a few days late, but I've been waiting for this

Anyone have any input on the nylon saddles on the Casino? Did they remain on the guitar? Influence on sound - intuition says it would mellow tone a bit but the sound belies that! Never knew this about that Era of Casinos. I have many guitars but a Casino & an early 60's style SG (with the smaller pick guard) are still desired. That '57 Goldtop was probably bought by Linda for less than $2k...in 2016 - even if it wasn't owned by Paul - it was worth $100k...add in the lefty rarity & up it goes. The $9k the 1960 went for from Rick is insanely cheap too. Linda DID what many of us should have - she bought iconic and rare instruments before they became stupid money & unattainable to the average player. Thanks to Elvis Costello (for his music of course) but also for getting Paul back on the Hofner. The 5 string bass almost broke my heart. 😉 Fantastic video - as always!

There's a photo of McCartney with a non reverse Gibson Firebird (3 or 5) on one of his album covers (maybe Ram?).

Amazing video! SO much research, so in-depth! Thanks a lot. ....Yeah, seems like Linda was spoiling Paul with fancy guitars quite regularly, lucky sod! ;D Hofner is a classic, of course, but I like Rick even better, there's something edgy about it. 18:21 yeah, at this point they could definitely afford Martins. Love the picture of John without glasses in India, by the way, pretty rare view.