I sent a message through facebook to Bob Spalding, and asked him about it....
I got an email from him today, apologizing for the delay in responding to me, but explained that they had been finishing up on a new CD, "The Ventures Play The Beatles" , and also the award ceremony where the Ventures received an award from the Emperor of Japan......and that Bob was in Japan now.....
I'll quote him, in part, from my email ....."Don never played bass although he did and still does play rhythm and lead guitars and there is a rare exception where I did get him to play bass on "Wild Weekend" from the Walk-Don't Run 2000 CD... the early picture you refer to was taken for publicity photos, circa 1960, and for some reason Don picked up Nokie's bass to have his single photo taken.....at least that's the story." _____ Bob Spalding
Anyway, I was excited to hear from him and share what he said with the forum.....

Roger