Ventures Guitarist Don Wilson, The Last Remaining Original Member Passes Away January 22nd

 

When the Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964 I knew that I just wanted to have a guitar. 

1950's  Harmony
Patrician

My first instrument was a very used Harmony Patrician archtop model that my Dad purchased from Will’s Pawn Shop for $20. I took group lessons at the local YMCA. By Christmas I was able to get a very nice used electric guitar. Those initial lessons taught me a few basic chord patterns. But I learned more from listening to records. Although I had learned to read music from piano and clarinet lessons,  I guess you could say learning the guitar was all done “by ear”. 

The Ventures were the most popular instrumental guitar group at the time. I owned more than a few Ventures albums. Back in 1964 I had no clue who the players were, or who was playing lead, rhythm, of bass guitar. In later years when Guitar Player Magazine and other periodicals appeared I learned much more about each of the players. 

The Ventures
(Don Wilson on the left) 

The story of how the Ventures came together was fascinating. All of the original members have now passed away with the announcement of Don Wilson’s passing on January 22nd of this year. According to his son, Timothy, Don Wilson passed away in his sleep of natural causes at age 88. 

Don Wilson and Bob Bogle first met in 1958, when Bogle was looking to buy a car from a used car dealership in Seattle which was owned by Wilson's father. They started a friendship when they discovered that they both wanted to play guitar. Bogle and Wilson purchased two used guitars from a pawn shop for $10 each, learned to play and in 1958 they decided to start a duo. 

The boys initially called themselves The Versatones and began by playing in small clubs, bars, and private parties throughout the Pacific Northwest.  

By 1959 the boys researched the bands name and discovered another group had already registered it. Wilson’s mother suggested calling their duo, The Ventures. 

The First Ventures Band

Wilson and Bogle had heard about a local player named Nokie Edwards who was playing guitar at a nearby nightclub. Nokie was very good, so Wilson and Bogle asked if he would be interested in playing bass guitar for The Ventures. Edwards agreed.

Bogle owned a Chet Atkins LP that included Chet’s version of a Johnny Smith song called Walk Don’t Run. 

The guys worked up a much simpler version of this song. By this time they had recruited a drummer named George Babbitt. But Babbitt was too young to play in clubs so he resigned  (interestingly enough in later years George Babbitt became a Four Star General). 

Walk Don't Run
(Chet Atkins) 

The guys needed a replacement drummer so they hired Skip Moore. Late in 1959 the group was able to record their version of Walk Don’t Run on an LP that was recorded at Joe Boles' home studio in Seattle, Washington. 

The Ventures First Recordings

This album was released on on Liberty's Dolton subsidiary in December 1960. The song, Walk, Don't Run became a big seller, peaking at #11 on Billboard and earning a gold record for The Ventures (their first of three) for over 500,000 copies sold. The Ventures had made it. 

The Ventures First LP

Skip Moore was the drummer on the recording. He  was devoted to his family’s auto-repair business. Thinking this was just another gig, he sold his rights to receive royalties to the recording session for $25. In later years, Moore filed a lawsuit, but it was dismissed since the document showed had signed away his rights.

The Ventures 1959

Moore was replaced by drummer Howie Johnson. The original Ventures line up included Bob Bogle on lead guitar, Don Wilson on rhythm guitar, Nokie Edwards on bass guitar, and Howie Johnson on drums. Johnson had been involved in a car accident prior to joining the group and had irreversible spinal damage. Sometimes he had to perform wearing a neck brace when playing drums. Later he resigned and was replaced by Mel Taylor. 

By 1961 the band decided that Nokie Edwards was a much better player than Bob Bogle and his talents  were wasted by keeping him on bass guitar. Bogle agreed, and rapidly learned the bass parts to all their tunes. So Edwards became the lead guitarist. This move would prove vital in modernizing the band's sound, ensuring success in an ever-changing market well into the late 1960s. 

The Ventures - Howie Johnson
- Don Wilson - Nokie Edwards on bass
 - Bob Bogle 

Initially The Ventures played Fender guitars. Bogle played a Fender Jazzmaster, Don Wilson owned a Fender Stratocaster, while Edwards played a Fender Precision Bass. Later on both Bogle, Wilson, and Edwards opted for the cleaner tones of the Jazzmaster. The guitarists used Fender amplifiers and reverb units. 

Gene Moles With His Mosrite

One evening Nokie Edward was visiting with a guitar playing friend, who played in clubs and on recording sessions. The guitarist was Gene Moles, who had just received a custom made guitar made by luthier Semie Mosely, who was building guitars under The Mosrite brand. 

Nokie Edwards was very impressed with this instrument.

Soon after the encounter, The Ventures hooked up with Moseley to build custom made Ventures guitars and basses. 

Gene Moles

“It was a beautiful guitar,” said Gene Moles, the Bakersfield session guitarist, then a member of Jimmy Thomason’s TV band, He later became the assembly-line inspector for Mosrite guitars. Mole's is quoted as saying  “It was a well-designed instrument. It felt good to a guitar player when he grabbed it. It had a narrow neck and a low profile, so you didn’t have to push down as hard on the strings to play it. And it had what we called ‘speed frets,’ where you could slide up and down the neck without getting held up on high-profile frets. 

Mosrite Ventures Models 

The Ventures went on to sign a special distribution agreement with Mosrite. They featured the guitar on preceding album covers. The band, having signed a special distribution agreement with Mosrite, featured the guitar on its album covers.  The headstock logo read "The Ventures" with the Mosrite logo in it's middle.

Don Wilson's Original Jazzmaster

After the expiration of their contract with Moseley, the Ventures returned to playing mainly Fender guitars. Only rarely have they used Mosrite guitars since that contract ended. In the mid-1990s, 

Fender Ventures Collection 

Fender issued a limited edition Ventures Signature Series of guitars consisting of a Jazzmaster, a Stratocaster, and a Fender Jazz Bass, all with specifications determined by the band. 

Aria & Wilson Brother
Venture Models

Aria Guitars and Wilson Brothers Guitars have subsequently issued Ventures Signature Model instruments. Though both guitar resemble the Mosrite version, the Wilson Brothers guitar, in particular, is closely modeled physically on the original Mosrite design. 

Walk, Don't Run '64

By 1964 The Ventures released an updated version of their original hit record called Walk Don't Run '64 which hit the #6 mark on the Top 100 chart. This is the version that I learned as did thousands of other kids in garage bands across the nation and world.  It featured that muted, reverb-laden, sliding glissando that just made the song pop. 

This style was imitated by many other "Surf Rock" groups of the day. It is even featured on the TV show theme for Third Rock From The Sun.

The 2000 Pound Bee

The Ventures pioneered the use of special effects on such songs as "The 2000 Pound Bee", recorded in late 1962, in which lead guitarist Nokie Edwards employed a fuzz pedal. This was probably the Mosrite "Fuzzrite" pedal. Edward noted  was the first guitarist to use a fuzz pedal. 

Mosrite 12 String 

Additional, the Ventures with Edwards on lead pioneered the use of the twelve-string guitar in rock. The Ventures also pioneered the use of other special guitar effects such as reverse tracking, flanging, and a talk box effect. 

Though their last major hit song in the United States was the theme to "Hawaii Five-0". This song reach #4 in 1968.

Diamond Head

Prior to this their 1965 single "Diamond Head" only reached #70 in the United States, however this one song became major hit overseas, reaching #1 in the Japanese and Hong Kong markets, and becoming the first million-selling single in Japan. 

In fact The Ventures were responsible for a period in Japanese music known as the Eleki which started a guitar boom in Japan. Thousands of Japanese purchased electric guitars and many guitar-based bands started up.  In later years The Ventures played to many sold-out concerts in Japan. This also accounted for their agreement with Aria guitar.

Don Wilson

Tim Wilson was quoted as saying "Our dad was an amazing rhythm guitar player who touched people all over world with his band, The Ventures  He will have his place in history forever and was much loved and appreciated. He will be missed." 

Don Wilson

Bogle died in 2009 at age 75. Edwards died in 2018 at age 82. Mel Taylor died in 1992 from cancer, Howie Johnson passed away in 1988, and original drummer Skip Moore is also deceased.

2008 Induction in the
Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 

The Ventures played a prominent role in popularizing the electric guitar in the 1960s and helped create the twangy surf sound that influenced the Beach Boys, among others. 

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame deemed The Ventures, ushered into the hall's ranks in 2008, "the most successful instrumental combo in rock and roll history."

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