Paul’s Original 1961 Höfner 500/1 Bass Guitar Has Been Found!

[Choking Smoker]

I honestly spent time every week in Notting Hill from 1980-1985 looking for second hand Beatle records and now I find out I should have been knocking on people's doors asking if the had any old guitars in their loft?

[C90]

Some other info I have gleaned from the net:

The street where the van was parked was Ladbroke Grove. The pub where the bass was stashed was the Admiral Blake. The pub landlord's surname was Guest, which I find kind of funny because Christopher Guest played Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap, who you may recall had a room full of guitars in the movie.

I can just see the bass stashed in the attic with "the old tagger still on it"

Interesting updates. I know that area of west London, including many of its pubs, and was dying to know which one was involved.
I've never heard of the Admiral Blake, but according to one of my fave websites it was demolished years ago
this is what the pub used to look like - and what the site is like now:

www.closedpubs.co.uk/london/w10_northke ... blake.html

EDIT: - more info on the pub, how it became known as The Cowshed, and a more recent photo of the site here:
www.bygoneboozers.co.uk/post/well-every ... roke-grove

[cliftdean74]

[Lord Reith]

I've never heard of the Admiral Blake, but according to one of my fave websites it was demolished years ago

Here is a picture of it:

the admiral blake.jpg (109.78 KiB) Viewed 897 times

So it looks as though the thief literally just walked down the street with it to the pub.

The bass was refinished in 1964 and still retains that unique color…the repair made to the pickups is the big one…one of Paul’s pickups was literally falling out and was held on with what looked like electrical tape…so a new surround was custom made to secure the pickups.

They totally frigging ruined it. The finish is cheap and horrible and the pickup bezel is ugly as hell. It was originally a beautiful instrument. Like John having some guy hand paint his blonde Ricky black, I'm sure this is something Paul must regret now. But at least John was able to have his restored to blonde. I doubt anything could get that epoxy off Paul's bass without destroying what's underneath... unless they removed it and repainted it from scratch.

Here's some more info about Ladbroke Grove:

By the early 70s the area particularly along its Portobello Road backbone was buzzing – a real hip community – the Electric Cinema had opened – Friends newspaper (later just Frendz) was based at no 307 above the clothes market of the same name, BIT the information and advisory service for the Underground run on a voluntary basis boasted ‘no bureaucracy, no files’ and there were a variety of hang outs and eateries such as Ceres whole food store, reflecting the prevalent taste for vegetarian organic food even back then – though many musicians favoured the more traditional nosh of the Mountain Grill (later immortalised by Hawkwind in the title of their fifth album), about which Doug Smith quips ‘the place was swimming in grease’.

Mick Farren reckons, ‘The pubs of freak significance back in the day were -from Ladbroke Grove tube station heading south - as follows...

The Kensington Park Hotel (KPH) Ladbroke Grove and Lancaster Rd. -- Full of junkies, long-haired lowlife, and Irish geezers too fucked up for the IRA

The Elgin -- Only a few points better than the KPH, but then they started having bands in the seventies and that's where the 101ers and London SS got started.

There was a serious Rasta pub on Portobello and Lancaster Rd which you only went if desperate to score (probably Oxo). Can't recall the name.

The Apollo on All Saints was a serious lefty pub, Claimants Union, Socialist Workers Party etc, plus rudies from the Mangrove. Never felt too welcome there.

Finches (Portobello Road) A regular haunt of most of us but it had its fair share of assholes, drugs squad, and tourists looking the hippies. Sometimes had music. There was this really obnoxious blind accordion player, but Paul Rudolph and Trevor Burton did play in there. Always seemed to be a lot of coppers hovering. Maybe the landlord didn't pay off.

Henneky's (Portobello) Had a garden and was a major hangout. Liked it better than Finches, but still the regular coppers, and tourists,

The Princess Alexandra (Portobello). The bullshit level in Henneky's, by about 1972 or so, caused Edward Barker and Roger Hutchinson to walk diagonally across the street and check out a pub that no one used except a few dodgy used car dealers. But there was a pool table. It was called the Princes Alexandra -- The Alex.. Boss, Lemmy, George Butler and I followed. Then Crazy Charlie and Hells Angels also adopted it. Bit by bit we made it our own and it stayed that way until it got too well known and full of Swedish Hawkwind fans hoping to spot Lemmy or Nic Turner. Ultimately it would be bought out, tarted up and become The Gold

The area was positively heaving with musicians – as Michael Moorcock recalled, ‘Ladbroke Grove was and is still is crammed with rock’n’roll people and it was almost impossible not to know at least half-a-dozen musicians who were either already famous or would soon become famous in the atmosphere, with Island’s amazing studios 10 minutes walk from my house and almost everyone you knew working in some capacity for the music business, it felt a little weird if you didn’t have a record contract’

Some bands had gravitated there such as Steamhammer originally from the south coast who’d rode the blues boom and early prog era with two albums for CBS (check out their track ‘Autumn Song’ featured here) but who had started to take on a style more redolent of the great San Francisco bands like Quicksilver – drummer Mick Bradley talked to ZigZag magazine about life there back in 1971: ‘we lived in Oxford Gardens, just off Ladbroke Grove for a while. I wouldn’t say it was creative at all, but it had a family atmosphere about it all right. You walked out and you felt that you were part of a community. But I don’t think it’s true any more because most of the people living there just lie about in their rooms stoned. There are still a few good bands down there, but it’s not a particularly enlightened part of the world or anything like that’.

Talking in 1970 Raja Ram flautist with Quintessence was more upbeat his chosen locale: ’if you live here, you meet so many people – poets, painters,
all sorts – and I’d say it’s the most creative part of England - in fact one of the most creative parts of the world. I’ve lived in many of the world’s principal cities from Greenwich Village to Melbourne, but I’d say this place has really got the most zap going. Everybody goes round to everyone else’s pad to jam and talk and so on…there are an amazing number of groups in the Grove or who got their start in the Grove…I mean you go down Portobello Road on a Saturday afternoon and it takes you about 5 hours to say ‘hello’ and 1 hour to do the shopping!’

Figures as diverse as guitarist Davy Graham and some time Pink Floyd alumnus Ron Geesin lived there – also the late jazz singer and writer George Melly who lived in St Lawrence Terrace. After the Deviants fell apart in Vancouver, Mick Farren settled in 56 Chesterton Road, North Kensington and resumed business as usual writing, planning Phun City and instigating the White Panther Party whilst his erstwhile cohorts, Russ, Sandy and Paul re-organised themselves with Twink in a more cohesive musical Pink Fairies the B-side of whose debut 45, ‘Do It’ a White Panther-style anthem is included here.

After his sacking from Tyrannosaurus Rex and the debacle of the first line up of the Pink Fairies Steve Took settled into 100 Cambridge Gardens– during the next decade Took would typify the perspective of Grove folk as stumbling permanently stoned long hairs and it’s shame that Steve’s predilection for drugs got in the way of his musical progress as he wrote some fine songs for series of different bands he put together including Shagrat with future Pink Fairy and Motorhead guitarist to be Larry Wallis, and various other line-ups that included at various points Sandy and Russ from the Fairies, Mick Wayne from Juniors Eyes and Ade Shaw of Magic Muscle and Hawkwind fame.

Took was one of a number of Grove characters sadly not include here whose contributions made the place so unique – Michael Cousins aka Magic Michael was another – he was the embodiment of the hippie ideal as his appearance in Peter Neal’s documentary of the 1971 Glastonbury Fayre attested – espousing his revolutionary plan to build a new Jerusalem based on peace, love, long hair and beads –he would later try out as the lead singer of German band, Can and make a swan song 45 with members of the Damned.

Singer Carol Grimes formed Uncle Dog in 1971 whilst living at 8a All saints Road, next door to the Mangrove Café – Uncle Dog was a fine outfit, possibly the Grove’s answer to Big Brother & the Holding Company and their sole LP Old Hat didn’t entirely do them justice but the group in just 18 months saw a stream of the Grove’s finest talent in and out of its ranks including Honk, ex-Fairy, Paul Rudolph, ex- Mighty Baby lead guitarist Martin Stone, slide guitarist Sammy Mitchell and pianist Dave Skinner – another Grove veteran who would join another band in the area Clancy featuring Ernie Graham. One of their many drummers was George Butler another figure from the community who deserves a book writing on him having played with Eggs Over Easy, Formerly Fat Harry and would go on to play with the Lightning Raiders and later versions of the Deviants and Pink Fairies.

Sounds like it was kind of a Haight Ashbury area in 72. I find it hard to imagine that it was not a muso who saw them parking the van and knew the stuff belonged to Wings. The other article said that the person who stole it virtually lived at that exact spot. So it was a bit like when JFK decided to drive through the Grassy Knoll - the opportunity was suddenly there and the temptation was too great. If they'd parked it half a block away it might never have happened.

[MeanMrMustard100]

Great research ! Hope we see Paul doing anything with it.

[sunnylew]

The new challenge would be to find a photo of Paul's Bass being played on stage by the landlord's son.

[Lord Reith]

The new challenge would be to find a photo of Paul's Bass being played on stage by the landlord's son.

I think the article said he died while at university. It seems as though it has just been laying about since then.

[beatlepaul]

Paul gives 6 figure sum to the family.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/2 ... ly-guitar/

[Kando]

Okay, so it pays to be semi-honest, lol.

[Mr Bump]

I just visited the Sun's website.

I feel dirty.