Double Czech - Jolana DiscoBass & Kolorbass -

[JIO]

A pic that finally shows the subtle difference between the original (aluminum leaf) and my silver-leafing. The center right area is where I stopped. All areas to the left and lower are original.

Life is (or should be IMO) ...is about subtleness/quality of intent and this is the difference displayed here. It's about something that looks silver... or is silver. As in, if you are going to do something worth doing - do it right. I respect the artist who created the beautiful artwork - and my contribution to restoring it is part of the larger involvement with art that I share with her. We (as mortals) die - art lives.

 

[Flamingo21]

Respect!

 

[Jon Clegg]

Wow!

 

[Indiedog]

This is really interesting. I've been thinking about doing a pick guard with leaf. I dabbled with it in school using it in patches of ink drawings for objects in the drawing. My interest is again up a level in a pick guard project.

(I want to give JIO a boost here) Have you checked out JIO’s website to see all his gold leaf/Silver leaf finishes? The man has a real talent for these finishes.

 

[Flamingo21]

(I want to give JIO a boost here) Have you checked out JIO’s website to see all his gold leaf/Silver leaf finishes? The man has a real talent for these finishes.

Ah, thanks for mentioning it! It only now dawns on me that he has a company named "Gildaxe" (it says so under his avatar) which pretty much says it all.

On a side note, I now see where "JIO" comes from.

 

[JIO]

Ah, thanks for mentioning it! It only now dawns on me that he has a company named "Gildaxe" (it says so under his avatar) which pretty much says it all.

On a side note, I now see where "JIO" comes from.

Hah! If I recall correctly, it came about more as a 'save' when I first joined tb now over 10 yrs ago. I think I had trouble establishing my 'account' and entered 'Geo' first. So to get around the roadblock I entered Jio and bingo! - in like Flint! Geo (to me) is short for George, a nick-name I never had as a kid but always wanted as George isn't a name prone to having a nick-name. When abbreviated, George becomes Geo. (Geo. ---) When I moved to CA in '90 I joined a bicycle club and an established club-member's name was George. To individualize myself when asked my name I replied "Geo". The elder founders of the bike club were Italian (from northern Italy) and liked Geo as it sounded like Gio (Giovanni). My dad was of Polish decent - mom Czech - so Eastern European. Anyway - it stuck. Since taking on that (nick) name, I've met other "Geo" George's who were hispanic. Not a common name hybrid/abbreviation - but I'm not alone.

​

 

[JIO]

Took the art Kolorbas to our Friday night jam session. (drums/guitar/Moog guitar & Fender Rhoads/me) Scored high all around - even got into some creative incorporation of hollow-body feed-back. It's a keeper.

 

[JIO]

Finished restoring the artwork on the Kolorbas. Re-gilded the silver 'clouds', coated the body with DUX acrylic sealer and shot a few light coats of Stew-Mac satin nitro. Ready to display and rock w/o harm to the artwork.

There's a blue Kolorbas currently on eBay from St Petersburg, Russian Federation and the seller has a vid of him playing it. Sounds good right?
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JqRvSNRrXAM?rel=0

Close-up/detail shots disclose the relative crudeness of the artwork's original application. I did my best to conform to it when restoring. I added the acknowledgement.

Plus, I just bought these Fender "Lyte" tuners for cheap on eBay for it - same footprint as what's on it but more unique pegs than the generic 'Y' pegs.

 

[JIO]

Fender Lyte tuners arrived and were installed. I like the way they look and they work well. (MIJ) Took the Kolorbas to another rehearsal yesterday and am growing fond of how it sounds playing our songs. For sure will bring it to the recording studio in January along with my Coral Deluxe Bass. I'm sure it will record well. Along with that, it's light and being short-scale it's very easy to play - can't beat that!

 

[Flamingo21]

Winner!

 

[JIO]

oh man - if I played guitar I'd be all over this Jolana!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Flamingo21]

Ooh, man! Those far too big two-way switches! So wrong! The good kind of wrong.

 

[JIO]

Ooh, man! Those far too big two-way switches! So wrong! The good kind of wrong.

I imagine you could glide over them in the heat of playing to alter the sound - like the way the bass foot pedals work on a B-3 organ. That guitar has all the right details goin' on. (the plastic tuner cover is awesome!)

 

[Flamingo21]

....plastic tuner cover?

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

^^what he said^^

 

[JIO]

....plastic tuner cover?

^^what he said^^

 

[JIO]

Couldn't find a detail shot but this Ormston Burns Company (far right) Artiste had a metal cover over the tuner posts. (presumably with a gap at the bottom for the strings to enter) Only 50 guitars were produced prior to '62 when a revised model was introduced. The company filtered through many hands over the '60s-'80s as seen in this collection; Ormston Burns, Burns of London, & Baldwin.

 

[RichterScale]

The one on the far right,....
Looks like if they shift all the pups toward the neck just a tich, they could squeeze one more pup in.

 

[JIO]

The one on the far right,....
Looks like if they shift all the pups toward the neck just a tich, they could squeeze one more pup in.

Jim Burns was no Leo Fender - almost the opposite. He was a dreamer/idea man who didn't let simple efficient design get in his way! He was someone who stayed out late gallivanting and woke up late. So it's possible he was the first to produce an electric guitar w/4 pu's, because there was already 3. Many guitars that were produced in Japan in the '60s had 4 pu's - and mostly because of Jim Burns! There were also many segmented 'scratch-plates' riffing off of Burns of London. Note the variety of pu styles/designs - the Japanese created many different pu's during the guitar-boom years.

'60s Italy made them also -

 

[Flamingo21]

What a load of drool stuff! Basses weren't dressed up like this, were they?

Edit: maybe I should build one. Now there's an idea.