Ticket To Ride

“I LOVE RICKENBACKERS BUT I ACTUALLY PREFER MY HOFNERS, DESPITE THEM BEING CHEAP AND PLONKY”

Few can claim to have studied the works of Sir Paul McCartney to the same degree as Dutch musician Bart van Poppel. Sitting down with the man is like opening a vault of Beatles insider knowledge, with all sorts of facts on instruments being switched midway through classic tracks and audiophile observations on how McCartney’s playing evolved throughout the years during his Beatles tenure.

In his group the Analogues, van Poppel performs in arguably the most tonally accurate Beatles tribute act around. Primarily focusing on the latterday material which was. I had my Rickenbacker, Hofner, Jazz Bass, and Fender VI with me just to A/B everything. We learned that 80 per cent of the album was played on a Hofner bass, which McCartney switched to around 1966, for . Then there are songs like ‘Golden Slumbers’ where it was George Harrison playing on a different bass—it was a very cut-and-paste time for them.”