I am new to this site, having just stumbled upon it, and this thread today. Thanks to all of you for the informative posts. I ordered a Hitchhiker on April 2, 2004, and received it on Labor Day 2006. I ordered (and paid for) the natural finish, but received a sunburst, but no big deal, considering everything. Over this time period, Nokie called me a few times. I believe I have one of the prototypes, as there is no serial #. Overall, I am extremely happy with it, and being a collector, I have many more axes to compare it to.
I had no problems with the bridge/high E string, However I must note that there were (at least) 2 different bridges used on Hitchhikers, and the style I received on mine is superior to others I have seen. I only had 2 complaints, other that the extreme difficulty in actually taking delivery of the guitar. One, it seems slightly lacking in bass response, (maybe due to the blade type of Duncan pup.) And two, being 14 1/2 inches wide, try to get a case for it! Nokie had included a Coffin Universal, which I'm not too fond of. The electronics, tuners, neck, ebony board, and finish are great, and have held up well so far.
I consider the Hitchhiker to be like a "Super Mosrite." Think Cadillac Eldorado to a Buick Riviera, or a Lincoln Mark to a Thunderbird. And yes, I do own a Mosrite.
I'd be happy to swap stories with any members of the boards.

JM,
Nokie never told me who made the guitar, in his 3 or 4 calls to me over the years. I didn't really wonder about it. I assumed it was some small boutique maker like McNaught, or even Rock Creek, since I found some newspaper articles on their planned participation, in an Oregon newspaper, via internet search. I even contacted Rock Creek during my wait, and got no response. I asked Nokie about the guitar project Don was involved in? (Wilson Bros) and he referred to them as "low end." I guess I was just so happy to get the axe after almost 2.5 years, that the sunburst didn't bother me either. It looks good to my taste, better than the blue or red. I think he kept most of the naturals for himself. I think the body wood is probably different on the painted and sunburst ones. I guess if you waited years for a DeLorean, and they send you a blue one instead of silver, you would probably take it. I really like the bridge I ended up with. It's the one with the Nokie Edwards signature engraved in it. And, I finally got a case that fits a Hitchhiker. It's made by a company called Strongbox.

JM,
Point taken, about the need to know the manufacturer of a given custom guitar. I don't expect Nokie to be calling me again anytime soon, (see the pm I sent you) but under the circumstances, and referring to your previous posts, this is most likely one of the ones from the Charvel custom shop. The time frame, and quality workmanship of the neck, wouldn't allow it to be an asian reissue or knockoff. I plan on holding on to it for a while, and probably would never sell to a dealer anyway. I believe I saw the blue one on ebay go for $3200, a year ago, and mine has a nicer tailpiece. At the time, I paid $2100 from Nokie's website, expecting to get a natural. The sunbursts and colors were then going for $1900.

JohnnyMosrite wrote:

All,
A bit long – but I hope a worthwhile read.
Any of you experiencing problems in getting your
Hitchhiker at present really is not too much of a
surprise to me. You were all chasing a phantom.
Here’s the deal on the EARLY, as I don’t think
there are any PRESENT, Hitchhiker guitars from about 5
years back.

They were designed by a guy named Bob Sickler here in
NY State. The guitar (and I really don’t know what
the big secret was in not disclosing who made it) was
manufactured by the CHARVEL custom shop – although
some think it was Washburn, USA. When Fender took
Charvel over, they stopped production of the Hitchhiker
– a possible piece of fallout with Nokie over the 6
month production blip called the ‘Nokie
Telecaster’. The HH was EXPENSIVE to produce and for
a ‘bottom line’ company like Fender, not
cost/profit effective. This all might account for
DesertSurfer and Reverbmikes friend getting Nokie’s
leftover prototypes from his stock. No more than 50 -
counting Hitchhikers (with serial numbers) and
prototypes (with no serial numbers) -were made by
Charvel before Fender shut down the operation. None of
you ever got a ‘current’ production Hitchhiker..
you couldn’t.. “ ‘cause there ain’t none.”
Every one around is from 5-6 years back. Anyone know
different?

All 50 – including the prototypes - had bridge
problems – nothing too serious - the high ‘E’
string (a fairly important string on the guitar) would
slip off the bridge on a bend or would break
prematurely. This was because the bridge section was
misaligned. I know of two that had the bridge problem
fixed – one was Nokie’s (of course) and one other
(more on that below)

So ponder this … a previous entry by me posted here
stated Rock Creek Guitars of WA would be making the HH
here in America TWO years ago.. and it still hasn’t
happened.. Why not?

CAPITAL – for the non-economically inclined among us
– it is simply the means of production (of the HH)..
That means plant, people, equipment, tooling, materials
-- which all boils down to money to obtain the same. I
have to think a small outfit like Rock Creek would
probably need some up front cash to get things going.
This axe is not cheap on materials or construction..
The first units will generate a loss. Good wood is
pricey these days. And I rather doubt that Nokie would
(or could) lend himself to that. This might account for
the ongoing ‘production’ problems in the HH. . The
project is way undercapitalized. I have my doubts that
it’s even under way.

Something else to ponder for those who still want to
fork over a 4 figure sum for a “new” Hitchhiker:

Who knows what the outcome will be from Rock Creek or
Aria if the HH ever does happen again. There may be
‘compromises’ in construction – deviations from
the original specs. I have my doubts that the quality
will match the original Charvel models. The Chravel
models are TOP NOTCH. How Nokie got Charvel on board to
begin with to crank out a great axe is one of the
guitar world’s miracles.

And – a funny thing happened while I was digging for
information on this thread. I GOT A HITCHHIKER. A
contact put me in contact with…etc. Mine is serial
number 0008. I’m the third owner of it. It was part
of two that were originally ordered 5 years ago or so
from Nokie – my 0008 is natural (Nokie’s preferred
color) followed by 0009 that was blue. 0009 sold
sometime in the last year on EBAY. The original owner
experienced the bridge problems with the high ‘E’
string that I mentioned and had Nokie get the problem
fixed (after some coercion with words like
“lawsuit” thrown at him). #0008 (now very much
mine) had the bridge fixed; Nokie would not fix #0009.
To my knowledge, NONE of the other Hitchhikers had the
bridge problem corrected.

#0008 did not come to me cheap but it is dead mint.
I also know for a fact that Nokie wanted to buy my
#0008 from previous owner(s), mainly due to the color
and the repaired bridge as a backup for his. But the
previous owner would not sell it - Lucky for me.

I think this axe is primed to be a future classic.
It’s lightning in a bottle that probably won’t be
replicated again. How often do you see an ebony
fingerboard on any guitar these days – with neck
through construction?
I never thought I’d get a line on a classic axe
through SG101. So, I’d like to thank IvanP for
talking me into joining this little forum last year and
DesertSurfer for starting the thread. Guys, if it
weren’t for you and the sequence of events that
followed, I’d have never ended up with this axe. I
really wanted one 5 years back, but finances and not
knowing at the time as to who made it, made me walk
from it. But I guess some things do straighten out
with time.

Regarding Nokie Edwards' Hitchhiker 0009. I bought it on Ebay probably a year ago now. It is blue and it is beautiful. I read your entry about purchasing 008 which is in flame maple top. I must say I play the blue 0009 guitar all the time and I do a lot of deep Harvey Mandel type bends with the guitar and have never had a string break or go out of tune or slip off the bridge. I know Nokie very well as he is living now in Yuma, AZ and will ask him about the bridge misalignment. I would find it hard to believe Nolie wouldn't make a flawed instrument good. I've known him a long time and he is a straight up guy. I had erroneously stated earlier that Jackson made these early Hitchhikers. Perhaps it was Charvel. in 2007 I ordered a premium maple top Hitchhiker and in August 2010, I went out to Nokie's house, then in Scottsdale, and picked it up. It is a fantastic guitar and actually feels better than the early ones. The neck is thinner and has a V shape to it where the 0009 Blue Hitchhiker i own has more of a U shaped neck in cross section. Aria in Japan now handles the construction of Hitchhikers. Look at Aria's website. I believe they are over 500.000 yen which is something like 6,300. US Pile of money.
My Aria made Hitchhiker plays and feels just like Nokie's own guitar which I have played. Infact, I played several other new Aria made hitchhikers and there is no difference between them. very consistent quality.
Hey, the Hitchhiker is expense and you have to wait a long time to get one but you will get it and you will love it. The past several years Nokie has designed a different bridge than is on my blue 0009. When I am at Nokie's sometimie this year, I'll see if I can talk him into putting a newer style bridge on it. The new bridge design is superb.

L

Last edited: Feb 05, 2013 13:25:30

LHR wrote:

Mom always said "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" but I gotta. Anyway, I can't hurt this thread, can I? Half the posts including the initial one have been deleted.

I saw Nokie's up close and personal on the Baja Cruise. This guitar is...um...how do I put this without offending anyone..."aesthetically challenged". I know everyone has a different take on what beauty is or is not, but seriously. Who designed this thing?

Besides that, they have humbucker pickups. (Gasp!) Don't know about you, but for surf, I am humbucker intolerant. Perhaps to reinforce my bias about these guitars was the sound; I felt that Nokie's most definitely did not complemeent the rest of the Ventures on the cruise. Just my opinion.

A reply to a VERY old post... I have to agree. The looks of this guitar do absolutely nothing for me. And it is surely isn't set up to be the best surf guitar.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal