...No he didn't. His first engagements with the bass were in Hamburg 1st stay there on Stuart absences. He used Stu's Höfner 500/5 (=Brunette 333 in Selmer catalogue) played upside down...
No you aren't wrong. He bought it at a music shop in Central Hamburg (=Steinway. Babiuk says that the seller was a certain Günter Hopper...)
But it seems that once upon a time two Beatle bass players performed together in The Casbah in 1961, February the 12th: Paul McCartney with his Rosetti Solid 7 converted to a 3 string bass and Stuart Sutcliffe with his Höfner 500/5...
Let's go back to the Rosetti's subject.
- Paul purchased his Rosetti in 1960, June the 30th. at Frank Hessy's music shop in Liverpool for £21. There is a reproduction of the HP book for this purchase at Andy Babiuk's book, page 33.
- He used it for the first time in July the 2nd., for their performance at the Corporation's Grosvenor Ballroom, Grosvenor Road, Liscard, Wallasey, Cheshire, and until mid-April 1961 (=date unknown??) when he purchased his 1st Höfner 500/1 bass at the small shop in Hamburg city center for 267 DM. It was told that sometimes he played it unplugged (=for example at the famous Litherland Town Hall performance in December the 27th., according to -at least- one witness: Faron Ruffley, from The Faron's Flamingos).
- During those 10 months they had more than 200 (=am I right??) gigs in Merseyside and Hamburg (=Indra, Kaiserkeller and Top Ten). This points to an ample use of the Rosetti.
- Besides John, Paul and George, other group members at those 10 months were Pete Best (=from mid August onwards), Stuart Sutcliffe (=with several absences in December 1960, and January-March 1961), and others like the drummer Norman Chapman or Chas Newby, former guitarist with The Blackjacks and engaged to play the bass with The Beatles. Curiously enough he was also left-handed as Paul (=which bass used Chas Newby to play these gigs??).
- Three photographic sessions with Paul playing his Rosetti have surfaced: 17th. August 1960 at Indra, in its original look with the Royal scratchplate/2 pick ups system. 12th. February 1961 at The Casbah, with the guitar converted to a three strings bass with some piano strings, no Royal scratchplate/2 pick ups system and a Höfner 503 K pick up instead. And finally at the beginning of April 1961 at Top Ten, with the guitar re-strung as a standard six strings guitar and a DeArmond pick up.
Now, several questions arise:
- It has been stated that Paul borrowed Stu's bass for some gigs..., when and where??
- When did he stop to use his Rosetti??
- Was he using his Elpico amp all the time until he got his Höfner bass??
- There is only (=really only one??) one picture with Paul posing with John's Höfner Club 40 guitar. When is it from?? Why is he holding John's guitar and not the Rosetti??
I would love to know your opinnion about this topic...
Best!!
Xosé