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6.53pm
7 April 2013
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Paul got his first Rickenbacker Bass 4001 in 1965. 
I am aware he used it regularly during Rubber Soul and Revolver sessions, in addition it was used as a back up for their 1966 tours. So my question is was it ever used for any live shows or television appearances from this time (1965-66) And If not, why? since Paul used the Rickenbacker instead of the Hofner for pretty much all of Revolver .
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7.34pm
1 December 2009
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Dunno why he seemed to prefer the Hofner for live performances for a lot of those years – maybe he just thought it had a distinctive trademarked look?
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
10.04pm
7 April 2013
Offline vonbontee said
maybe he just thought it had a distinctive trademarked look?
Possibly, but why then did he use the Rickenbacker on tour with Wings.
"We can do what we want, we can live as we choose"
11.16pm
1 December 2009
Offline Because it was a better-sounding instrument! And by the time Wings came around, audiences could actually hear the band.
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
12.29am
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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It could be as simple as the majority of the songs he played live with The Beatles were recorded with him using the Hofner, even those in their 1966 live sets. Wings never included very many Beatles songs, and half of those they did were done acoustic, so he used the bass he was using for the majority of Wings recordings, which was the Rickenbacker. And what has happened since he started performing more Beatles numbers, the Hofner has come out of retirement – but it’s not the only bass he uses onstage, nor the only bass he uses when playing Beatles songs, he tends to stick (pretty much) to using it on the songs that he used it on in the studio.
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
12.30am
26 March 2012
Offline And because he wanted to create a clear iconographic distance from the Beatles when he played with Wings, while keeping his instrument of choice visually memorable.
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8.21am
7 April 2013
Offline mja6758 said
It could be as simple as the majority of the songs he played live with The Beatles were recorded with him using the Hofner, even those in their 1966 live sets.
Oh I did not consider the fact they played none of Revolver and very little of Rubber Soul live, so it makes sense why he would stick to the Hofner if her was used to playing the songs on that.
Thanks.
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9.29am
31 March 2008
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The Hofner bass is very light, which was probably useful for stage shows (even if they were only 30 minutes long). Also, The Beatles were very aware of their visual image, so John’s Rickenbacker 325, George Gretsch, Paul’s Hofner bass and Ringo’s Ludwig kit were what people expected to see. I can’t remember if they had endorsement deals with Vox and Rickenbacker – I’d have to check Andy Babiuk’s book Beatles Gear.
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1.15pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline Joe said
The Hofner bass is very light, which was probably useful for stage shows (even if they were only 30 minutes long). Also, The Beatles were very aware of their visual image, so John’s Rickenbacker 325, George Gretsch, Paul’s Hofner bass and Ringo’s Ludwig kit were what people expected to see. I can’t remember if they had endorsement deals with Vox and Rickenbacker – I’d have to check Andy Babiuk’s book Beatles Gear.
They did have an endorsement deal with Vox, but not with Rickenbacker. To this day, Rickenbacker doesn’t endorse artists (I am a huge Rick fan and own a couple myself, I’ve heard this directly from the owner of Rickenbacker, John Hall). They do the occasional signature instrument but they don’t endorse anyone. It’s also interesting that John and George had no problem switching to their Epiphone Casinos for the ’66 tour but Paul, for whatever reason, stuck with the Hofner for the live performances.
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6.41pm
10 August 2011
Offline Even as the owner of many guitars, I don’t think I’d have noticed if George or John switched guitars unless it was visually distinct (e.g. when George used a Telecaster in Let It Be ).
The Hofner, however, is iconic. It is THE Paul McCartney guitar associated with him and no one else. As stated by Ben Ramon, he ditched it with Wings to clearly distance himself from the Beatles, but brought it back with the Flowers In The Dirt tour when that was no longer an issue.
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6.59pm
1 December 2009
Offline I understand that he still uses one that dates from the Beatle days, so that’s pretty cool.
GEORGE: In fact, The Detroit Sound. JOHN: In fact, yes. GEORGE: In fact, yeah. Tamla-Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. JOHN: We like Marvin Gaye. GEORGE: The Impressions PAUL & GEORGE: Mary Wells. GEORGE: The Exciters. RINGO: Chuck Jackson. JOHN: To name but eighty.
8.06pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline vonbontee said
I understand that he still uses one that dates from the Beatle days, so that’s pretty cool.
Yep, he used the Hofner that was his 2nd one, bought in 1962 I believe. It can be distinguished from his first Hofner because it has the pickups spaced apart, whereas his original has them right next to each other. It even had the setlist from Candlestick Park ’66 taped to it until recent years.
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10.06pm
7 April 2013
Offline I’ve been wondering if Paul still uses his ricky for recordings, especially on the NEW album. For example its been spotted in the Queenie Eye video and during the Something New documentary. It’ll be cool if he has been using it recently since it may finally see the light of day in a live show.
"We can do what we want, we can live as we choose"
6.37pm
20 November 2013
Offline megopop09 said
I’ve been wondering if Paul still uses his ricky for recordings, especially on the NEW album. For example its been spotted in the Queenie Eye video and during the Something New documentary. It’ll be cool if he has been using it recently since it may finally see the light of day in a live show.
All we know is that he used the Rickenbacker in one song on the New album, but we don’t know which song unfortunately. Generally speaking, i found the bass sound in the last album a delusion. The bass is hidden and mixed down, and the quality is not what I expected. The best Ricky sound for me is in the RAM album, deep and penetrating. He did use some Fender Jazz on Band On The Run , which has a great sound (i.e. Mamunia, Mrs.Vandebilt, Let Me Roll It ) but we’re not sure which songs… During the ’80 he switched to Yamaha (starting around 1979), but his records has too much reverb (i.e. Press To Play , with the possible exception of Good Times Coming). From Flowers In The Dirt he went back to Hofner and in Driving Rain he dusted off his Ricky in one track. Great sound of Hofner was achieved in Chaos And Creation In The Backyard .
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7.26pm
7 April 2013
Offline All we know is that he used the Rickenbacker in one song on the New album, but we don’t know which song unfortunately
Asides from the various video clips, how do we actually know he played it since there are no photos or videos of him using the ricky during the NEW sessions.
PS: Lovin your book backseat, really interesting and enjoyable read.
"We can do what we want, we can live as we choose"
8.06pm
20 November 2013
Offline megopop09 said
All we know is that he used the Rickenbacker in one song on the New album, but we don’t know which song unfortunately
Asides from the various video clips, how do we actually know he played it since there are no photos or videos of him using the ricky during the NEW sessions.
PS: Lovin your book backseat, really interesting and enjoyable read.
That was said by Giles Martin in an interview. Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying the book 
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Italian translator of Paul McCartney's THE LYRICS, collaborator of MPL for The 7" Singles Box
8.10pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
Offline backseat said
megopop09 said
All we know is that he used the Rickenbacker in one song on the New album, but we don’t know which song unfortunately
Asides from the various video clips, how do we actually know he played it since there are no photos or videos of him using the ricky during the NEW sessions.
PS: Lovin your book backseat, really interesting and enjoyable read.
That was said by Giles Martin in an interview. Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying the book
Which would indicate it was one of the Giles Martin-produced tracks, which cuts it down some!
"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty
To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
8.50pm
20 November 2013
Offline mja6758 said
backseat said
megopop09 said
All we know is that he used the Rickenbacker in one song on the New album, but we don’t know which song unfortunately
Asides from the various video clips, how do we actually know he played it since there are no photos or videos of him using the ricky during the NEW sessions.
PS: Lovin your book backseat, really interesting and enjoyable read.
That was said by Giles Martin in an interview. Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying the book
Which would indicate it was one of the Giles Martin-produced tracks, which cuts it down some!
Could be, but let’s not forget that Martin supervised the whole project and that Paul overdubs the bass later in the recording process. So who knows…it’s a shame that they did not reply back to Martin “Which song?”, ’cause I’m sure he would have answered!
https://twitter.com/LucaPerasi
Italian translator of Paul McCartney's THE LYRICS, collaborator of MPL for The 7" Singles Box
10.22pm
7 April 2013
Offline backseat said
That was said by Giles Martin in an interview. Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying the book
Thanks for the clarification on that. Its nice to know Paul still uses this wonderful bass.
"We can do what we want, we can live as we choose"
12.47pm
27 December 2012
Offline backseat said
megopop09 said
I’ve been wondering if Paul still uses his ricky for recordings, especially on the NEW album. For example its been spotted in the Queenie Eye video and during the Something New documentary. It’ll be cool if he has been using it recently since it may finally see the light of day in a live show.All we know is that he used the Rickenbacker in one song on the New album, but we don’t know which song unfortunately. Generally speaking, i found the bass sound in the last album a delusion. The bass is hidden and mixed down, and the quality is not what I expected. The best Ricky sound for me is in the RAM album, deep and penetrating. He did use some Fender Jazz on Band On The Run , which has a great sound (i.e. Mamunia, Mrs.Vandebilt, Let Me Roll It ) but we’re not sure which songs… During the ’80 he switched to Yamaha (starting around 1979), but his records has too much reverb (i.e. Press To Play , with the possible exception of Good Times Coming). From Flowers In The Dirt he went back to Hofner and in Driving Rain he dusted off his Ricky in one track. Great sound of Hofner was achieved in Chaos And Creation In The Backyard .
Do not forget the bass in Wings Over America over his concert called Rockshow.
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