Nokie has been my biggest guitar hero since 1960's when I started listening to The Ventures. I was very lucky to know him in person in the last few years and own some of his personal guitars. Currently he lives with his wife Judy in Oregon but thinking of moving to Arizona. He will soon become another desert surfer.

One time he replied to a TV News Reporter during an interview: "Do I like surfing? Well, I can't even swim.."
Nokie has used many types of guitars such as Telecaster, Mosrite, Tony Hunt, Carvin etc. and later switched to his own HitchHiker. For acoustics, Nokie used Santa Cruz, Taylors and others. The following are some of the personal guitars he has used.
http://www.timelineguitars.com/negt.htmlNokie has been in and out of The Ventures in the last 48 some years. But to most of the Ventures fans, he is always considered one of the original four along with Don Wilson, Bob Bogle and Mel Taylor, the drummer.
Nokie is 73 years old and still going strong with his own band called "The HitchHikers"
Nokie was interviewed by an Oregan TV Station on 4/18/08 after he and The Venture were inducted into Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYc2jbR7Os