Rickenbacker 4001S

The Rickenbacker 4001S-LH was Paul McCartney's main bass from 1965 to c. 1989. After The Beatles disbanded in 1970, he continued to use it as his main choice of bass with Wings and in his solo career.

With The Beatles

 * Rubber Soul
 * Revolver
 * Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (album)
 * The Beatles (album)
 * Yellow Submarine (album)
 * Abbey Road (album)
 * Let It Be (album)
 * Magical Mystery Tour (album)
 * Past Masters

Solo

 * McCartney
 * Ram
 * Wild Life
 * Red Rose Speedway
 * Band on the Run (album)
 * Venus and Mars (album)
 * Wings at the Speed of Sound
 * London Town (album)
 * Back to the Egg
 * McCartney II
 * Tug of War (album)
 * Pipes of Peace (album)
 * Give My Regards to Broad Street
 * Press to Play
 * Flowers in the Dirt

Songs that use this instrument

 * Drive My Car
 * You Won't See Me
 * Nowhere Man
 * Think for Yourself (2 basslines)
 * The Word
 * Michelle
 * What Goes On
 * I'm Looking Through You
 * In My Life
 * If I Needed Someone
 * Day Tripper
 * We Can Work It Out
 * Taxman
 * I'm Only Sleeping
 * Here, There and Everywhere
 * Yellow Submarine
 * She Said She Said (Ryohei Kanayama's Karaoke Cover)
 * And Your Bird Can Sing
 * For No One
 * Doctor Robert
 * I Want to Tell You
 * Got to Get You Into My Life
 * Tomorrow Never Knows
 * Paperback Writer
 * Rain
 * Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
 * With a Little Help From My Friends
 * Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
 * Getting Better
 * Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
 * When I'm Sixty-Four
 * Lovely Rita
 * Good Morning Good Morning
 * Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
 * A Day in the Life
 * Strawberry Fields Forever
 * Penny Lane
 * Magical Mystery Tour
 * The Fool on the Hill
 * Flying
 * Blue Jay Way
 * Your Mother Should Know
 * I Am The Walrus
 * Hello, Goodbye
 * Baby, You're a Rich Man
 * All You Need is Love
 * Lady Madonna
 * Back in the U.S.S.R.
 * Dear Prudence
 * Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
 * The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
 * Happiness is a Warm Gun
 * Martha My Dear
 * I'm So Tired
 * Piggies
 * Don't Pass Me By
 * Why Don't We Do It in the Road?
 * Birthday
 * Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
 * Sexy Sadie
 * Revolution 1
 * Savoy Truffle
 * Cry Baby Cry
 * Hey Jude
 * Revolution
 * Only a Northern Song
 * All Together Now
 * Hey Bulldog
 * It's All Too Much
 * Come Together
 * Something
 * Maxwell's Silver Hammer
 * Octopus's Garden
 * I Want You (She's So Heavy)
 * Here Comes the Sun
 * Because
 * You Never Give Me Your Money
 * Polythene Pam
 * She Came In Through the Bathroom Window
 * The End
 * The Ballad of John and Yoko
 * I Me Mine
 * Let It Be
 * Band On the Run

Trivia

 * Paul used this bass from 1965 until the late 1980s, when Elvis Costello convinced him to go back to the Höfner, though he still occasionally uses it in the studio.
 * In 1967 he gave his 4001S a home-made psychedelic paintjob.
 * In early 1969 he sanded it down to the bare maple wood, later (c. 1972) sanding it further to round off the 'horns' of the body.
 * Prior to the Wings Over America tour, the bass was sent back to the Rickenbacker factory to get some work done to it, including replacing the old horseshoe bridge pickup which had stopped working.
 * It has serial number DA23, made in January 1964.
 * He has been photographed with other Rickenbacker basses other than DA23, (including a mapleglo 4001FL fretless and a custom jetglo 4001-5 5-string version with a black pickguard and nameplate and no fretboard inlays) but it is unclear how many he owns.