Hofner Icon-B left-handed bass guitar signed by Paul McCartney on the tortoise shell pickguard. Signature is in silver marker. McCartney signed this Hofner in Los Angeles, CA, on February 8th, 2006.

The Beatles were known for using Hofner bass guitars, most notably, Hofners can be heard on the songs "Hard Day's Night" and "I Feel Fine."

The unique Hofner violin bass was designed by Walter Hofner in 1955 and first shown to the public at the Frankfurt Musikmesse in the spring of 1956. It seems that Hofner's intention was to produce a bass guitar that would be appealing to players of the upright bass (double bass) who no longer wanted to carry such a big heavy instrument around to play in beat and jazz groups. He also designed the bass so that the construction method would be familiar to the workers at Hofner who had been making violins for decades. The result was a bass in a similar style to a classical stringed instrument, that was built in much the same way - hollow bodied, arched topped, and a set-in neck. Hofner also used components from the Hofner electric guitar line that he adapted for the bass, so it also got the familiar ebony bridge, the wire tailpiece, the oval control panel, and the black bar pickups.

From the Dallas International Guitar Festival Show. Lot includes two letters of authentication verifying the McCartney signature, one from Perry Cox, author of The Official Price Guide to the Beatles Records & Memorabilia, the other by Frank Caiazzo.