Double Czech - Jolana DiscoBass & Kolorbass -

[Retro]

My Czech heart warms when I see this treated with love.

Few pictures here JOLANA Disco bass
There's some history info on jolana.info if you can translate it.

I second this, jolana.info is a great site! I've spent far to much time on it and the history of the company is fascinating. Some of their designs were really far-out! I don't see many of them here in the US, but when I do the owners always love them. I know I love mine! It's alot of fun to have a bass that "stands out from the crowd"!

 

[frankie5string]

I second this, jolana.info is a great site! I've spent far to much time on it and the history of the company is fascinating. Some of their designs were really far-out! I don't see many of them here in the US, but when I do the owners always love them. I know I love mine! It's alot of fun to have a bass that "stands out from the crowd"!

Every time I ran into someone who owned a Jolana, they all said the same thing: "On stage, I hate this thing, but I love it and will never give it up!"

The name has been revived after various tribulations, I guess, and they're back in Horovice by NBE.

 

[JIO]

My Czech heart warms when I see this treated with love. I remember Jolanas from my beginnings in early 90s. Usually the fingerboard was bad quality wood, something between rosewood and walnut, called 'Brazil'. The pickups were noisy and microphonic, which people solved by leaking some glue inside (soldering rosin?). And the strings! Undescribable. And when someone wanted fancy knobs, he used toothpaste covers.
But lately they started to gain price and there are great young players playing them.
Nice project!

Few pictures here JOLANA Disco bass
There's some history info on jolana.info if you can translate it.

Thanks so much for more background info and a special welcome to you from your Czech heart! This is what I love about taking on a vintage resurrection like this. I end up learning so much thanks to far flung and in this case intimately related tb members like you! My mom's side of the family is Czech but I sadly don't have much of any info related. (her maiden name was Stanek) So the fb is called Brazil... interesting. It's somewhat 'exotic to my eyes. Luckily it's in good condition. I enjoy making an abused/marginal/underestimated bass sound/play great and I'm hoping this one won't disappoint.

Funny you should mention the "fix" of leaking glue inside... I noticed the bridge pu had what looked like a small hole and a faint flared-out circle (like starting a forstner-bit hole) and wonder if that is what's going on. Crazy.

Speaking of great young players playing one -

 

[frankie5string]

Speaking of great young players playing one -

It sounds great! Kinda sounds like a Gibson Ripper!

 

[Retro]

It sounds great! Kinda sounds like a Gibson Ripper!

Yes! I love playing early Green Day stuff on mine, it really sounds like the Gibsons Mike Dirnt used then. Definitely has some useable sounds on tap!

 

[kbob]

I mostly just like that the wiring schematic was apparently worthy of ad material.
CEO: "What's your best selling point on this thing?"
Engineer: "......View attachment 4391997 "

That's how it looks to us capitalists. I'm sure the Czech music industry wasn't purely a command economy in 1985, but they probably thought differently about marketing than we do. That part, if we had solid info, might be as interesting as the bass itself.

Meanwhile, I live in fear of that bass's northwest bout. You could put an eye out.

 

[BigJohnAZ]

Did those come after they stopped using broken telephone earpieces for pickup parts (magnets and coils)?

One of my luthier friends used to cannibalize broken telephones to make pickups.
I wouldn't be surprised if the nail-head side dots were done that way at the factory. They probably needed a solution for side-dots into that really weird fingerboard wood, and a finishing nail painted white did the trick. lol!

That's a pretty cool find.

That's what Leonid of Leonid & Friends did in Soviet Russia to make his first guitar.

 

[Iristone]

I mostly just like that the wiring schematic was apparently worthy of ad material.
CEO: "What's your best selling point on this thing?"
Engineer: "......View attachment 4391997 "

I think it's an Eastern Europe thing. Maybe to aid workshop repairing? I know for sure that many microphones from Eastern Europe came with their very individual frequency response graph for perfect stereo matching.

 

[JIO]

It sounds great! Kinda sounds like a Gibson Ripper!

It does sound great - that is the sound I want my bass to sound like, and my Dano related basses (Silvertone 1443 Hornet and Coral Deluxe Bass, both from '68) do sound like that. If this bass sounds like that when I'm done with it - I'll be well pleased.

 

[JIO]

Did those come after they stopped using broken telephone earpieces for pickup parts (magnets and coils)?

One of my luthier friends used to cannibalize broken telephones to make pickups.
I wouldn't be surprised if the nail-head side dots were done that way at the factory. They probably needed a solution for side-dots into that really weird fingerboard wood, and a finishing nail painted white did the trick. lol!

That's a pretty cool find.

Well, here's the product that gave Ampeg its name - a 1960 Ampeg Amp Peg - made from phone earpiece receivers... The close up of one of them (5th pic from left) was how I got it - I needed to re-solder the wires to connect it which were broken off. (which I did) - it works but marginally well to 'amplify' a double-basses true acoustic bass sound/tone. Much advancements in the technology have occurred since then.

 

[JIO]

That's how it looks to us capitalists. I'm sure the Czech music industry wasn't purely a command economy in 1985, but they probably thought differently about marketing than we do. That part, if we had solid info, might be as interesting as the bass itself.

Meanwhile, I live in fear of that bass's northwest bout. You could put an eye out.

I've seen much worst ergonomic designs for sure - just the fact that the lower strap-peg is located (from the factory) north of center for better overall balance shows they were at least attempting to address head-dive due to no upper horn. And the bass is light (1.25" thick), unlike a real Gibson RD which was/is a boat anchor. In fact, Gibson was known for neck-diving basses; '63-'65 T-birds, the RD, the Les Paul bass, and the long-scale EB-3's, to name only a few. If you are going to produce a neck-diving bass, at least don't add insult to injury by making it 13lbs!

 

[JIO]

This is the bridge I will be using - a Fender high-mass oversized saddle bridge. I chose it because it looks similar (enough) to the original DiscoBass bridge which was replaced somewhere along the line. Original was a 'bent-plate' (compared to the Fender high-mass) as on this red bass example but with similar height adjustment channels. Close enough for Jazz as they say... Also note the same violet tinted clear knobs. This pg has a white perimeter (actually looks to be blk/wht/blk?) which I could do by scraping-off the black coating there. Something to consider.

Filled all holes on the hs. (toothpicks/superglue) Most are covered by the tuners and by the time it's re-finished any trace will be minimal. Overall, my goal is not to create an exact "as new from the factory" bass from 1985 to put behind glass or on a pedestal, as much as honoring respectfully a vintage basses' character iconically while modernizing/updating it in playability/set-up/function - to make it playable again in optimal fashion. The thing I love about pulling this off (when I can) is that, when I do - those basses become the basses I play with my band both live and recording. (or that anyone could play live or recording)
There are literally thousands of J's and P's etc out there, but these more obscure "off the beaten path" basses have their own unique character/tone/looks that (as noted here) endears them to their owners/players. To play a gig and have the bass you are playing respond as you like to every nuance needed is a kind of bass nirvana. That's my goal every time I take on a new project.

 

[Flamingo21]

Subscribed!

 

[JIO]

Subscribed!

welcome!

 

[Jon Clegg]

I think it's an Eastern Europe thing. Maybe to aid workshop repairing? I know for sure that many microphones from Eastern Europe came with their very individual frequency response graph for perfect stereo matching.

Yeah, come to think of it, my Echolette amp from the DDR included a schematic in the user's manual.

 

[ardgedee]

I don't mean to rush you because I am really enjoying your posts and photos about the Discobass... but you promised us a Kolorbass too!

 

[logdrum]

Subbed. I need some bell bottom pants as well.

 

[JIO]

I don't mean to rush you because I am really enjoying your posts and photos about the Discobass... but you promised us a Kolorbass too!

Incoming (from Russia) - should be here in the next couple of weeks. It will be worth the wait I can assure you! (spoiler: if you want a sneak preview visit the thread I posted in my 1st post here)

 

[Retro]

This pg has a white perimeter (actually looks to be blk/wht/blk?)

There seem to have been several different versions, but the pg on mine is made of a thick but somewhat brittle material that reminds me of old 78 records. (The area around the neck pu volume control was "shattered" and had to be repaired) The white edge (on mine) is just painted on.

 

[JIO]

Subbed. I need some bell bottom pants as well.