HitchHiker Nokie Edwards mid 2000's Quilted Maple

Before  his untimely death, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Nokie Edwards of ‘The Ventures’ set out to build his own personal guitar brand. 

  Nokie called his guitar the ‘HitchHiker’.  The body is made of ‘swamp ash’ with a beautiful  ‘Quilted Maple’ top and is in the shape of a ‘Mosrite’ guitar, which the Ventures played exclusively in the early to mid 60’s. It is a ‘neck through’ body, and the head stock, shaped like a ‘hitch hiking thumb’  is overlayed in matching Quilted maple. All the hardware is Gold and by means of various switch settings, the guitar is capable of 15 different sounds.

Nokie numbered his guitars by means of a serial number beginning with ‘NE’ (Nokie Edwards), followed by a series of four numbers, stamped below the last fret on the finger board.

He only built a few HitchHikers, by means of  2 or 3 ‘trial’ manufacturers. Most of these ended up in Japan where the Ventures are to this day still considered musical gods.  Nokie kept two guitars for himself, THE FIRST ONE, serial number NE0001 and another matching one, which he toured with and played exclusively around the world.

Nokie, for personal reasons, ultimately sold his guitars and THIS GUITAR was one of Nokie’s two personal guitars, SERIAL NUMBER NE0001 !

As is commonly known, every ‘wood grain’ is unique and so this guitar is identified not only by it’s serial number, but by a little dark knot just behind the neck pickup. The knot is very conspicuous in close-ups of Nokie’s fingers in you tube videos such as ‘The Ventures 45th Anniversary Concert’, in which he is seen playing  NE0001.

‘NE0001’ is unique not only in that Nokie set it up to play to his exact specifications and liking, but it is also signed twice by him. The first time was the day he sold it and I held it as he signed it. The second time was about a year before he passed away. He wasn’t feeling well that day and his signature reflects it,  but true to form he was gracious enough to sign it again anyway.

It is bitter sweet to have two of Nokie’s signatures on the same guitar, as they that actually document the decline in his health.

Also for personal reasons, I am now selling NE0001. It will come with a ‘Nokie’ engraved leather strap which was NOT used by Nokie but was purchased later fom Nokie’s wife, Judy, who made it herself.

If you are looking for a rare piece of Rock & Roll history for your collection or just want a gorgeous looking and playing guitar, this is your opportunity.