According to Del Halterman's book "Walk-Don't Run...The Story of The Ventures":
In 1959, a few months after Don and Bob met Nokie, he(Nokie) came into "The Blue Moon" with a guitar case.
When it was time for Don and Bob to take a break, they went to sat with Nokie, and Nokie opened
his guitar case and showed the guys a Sunburst Precision Bass with a gold anodized pickguard.
The bass looked almost new, but was actually a pre-owned bass that Nokie bought for $125.00 from a pawn shop.
Nokie was invited to sit in with Don and Bob that night, he did, playing bass and then switching to guitar.
(This was night that Bob played a bass for the very first time, and it was in front of a live audience!)
This is the same bass that Nokie played on American Bandstand in 1960, and on the albums, "Walk: Don't Run!",
"The Ventures", "Another Smash", and "The Colorful Ventures".
After recording "The Colorful Ventures" album, Nokie loaned his bass to Judd Hamilton(formerly the groups road Mgr.),
for a live band job. Afterwards, Judd left the bass to overnight in his car. Next morning, the bass was gone...
Even in 1961, it wasn't safe to leave your instrument visible in your car; somebody smashed a window and grabbed
Nokie's bass. Judd couldn't afford to replace Nokie's bass, but Leo Fender presented Nokie with a brand-new
Precision bass and a brand-new Jazzmaster.