Jolana Discobass Ratrod

[Engle]

Jolana was/is a Czech brand and this bass dates back to the 80's when Czechoslovakia was part of the USSR. There's some good info on this site: The Unique Guitar Blog: Jolana Guitars - First Electric Guitars Made In Czechoslavakia

The Discobass body was based on a Gibson RD shape. I have always loved those RDs...except for the weight. They are usually in the 10-11 pound range – no thanks.
I’m not sure why they called this a Discobass, but it brings to mind Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd doing their “Wild and Crazy Guys” bit.


Here's an ad for the bass: I guess if you're buying a bass in 1980's Czechoslovakia, you want to see the schematic!

I picked up this 80’s Discobass body from an Ebay seller that was offering the neck separately. The neck had a broken truss rod nut, and I didn’t want to get into replacing a truss rod. One of the pics from the listing:

Here is is at home. As you can see, there is extensive checking (no pun intended)and some separation of the glue joints:

All the hardware is heavy duty and all screws are flat head. The bridge is a thick chromed bent plate, with saddles that are ½” in diameter.

I looked around for a neck that could work. The original was 34 inch scale with 21 frets, and a heel width of 2-5/16. I have an Epiphone hockey stick neck with the right width, but it’s only 20 frets. Using that would mean moving the bridge. I like the look of the checked finish (Lacquer?), so didn’t want to move the bridge.

Checking the Talkbass classifieds I came across a Warmoth neck - 1.5 nut, slim taper roasted maple/maple with carbon fiber rods. And 21 frets! Of course the fingerboard normally extends over the body to achieve this, but I can deal with that. I bought the neck and when it arrived, swapped it onto my fretless –a Warmoth dinky P body to try it out. It worked well and actually matched up nicely with that body - but no. Stay on track!

Here is the body mocked up with the neck:

Then it was decision time – Do I route the body for the neck? Or route the neck heel for the body? Or narrow the neck?

 

[scuzzy]

I would always route the body. it's not that valuable, and the neck can be used in other standard neck pockets without issue. if you change the neck, it will not fit a standard pocket anymore.

 

[JIO]

"I’m not sure why they called this a Discobass," I think it was an attempt to align it with a very $uccessful music trend. It could also have something to do with its shape...

Here's my '85 Discobas LC thread for more Czech fun - Double Czech - Jolana DiscoBass & Kolorbass -

 

[Killing Floor]

!!!!!

That is gonna rock.

 

[Bikeguy57]

I'm confused. Doesn't a Warmoth 21 fret neck with the 21st fret extending from the end of the heel still have the distance, nut to 12th fret to saddle, as a 20 fret neck? The overhanging fretboard wouldn't change this would it?

 

[Engle]

I'm confused. Doesn't a Warmoth 21 fret neck with the 21st fret extending from the end of the heel still have the distance, nut to 12th fret to saddle, as a 20 fret neck? The overhanging fretboard wouldn't change this would it?

You are correct.
The Discobass has a pocket that extends further toward the bridge. If I were to put a Fender (or Warmoth) neck so that it’s heel went to the end of the pocket, I’d have to move the bridge back.
Filling in the area under the overhang pushes the neck out to where it needs to be on the Discobass. I’ll upload and post pictures later.

 

[Engle]

"I’m not sure why they called this a Discobass," I think it was an attempt to align it with a very $uccessful music trend. It could also have something to do with its shape...

View attachment 4926667

Here's my '85 Discobas LC thread for more Czech fun - Double Czech - Jolana DiscoBass & Kolorbass -

Both those turned out really nice!

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

when Czechoslovakia was part of the USSR

I hate to be "that guy" but Czechoslovakia wasn't part of the USSR. From 1948 to 1989 it was part of Eastern Bloc controlled by USSR, but never part of USSR itself.

 

[ahbradot]

Blues guitar, Jazz bass, Disco bass.
I can understand the mindset with the Discobass model.
It's clever branding.

 

[DanAdams]

Route the body.
The body is softer, and the body is painted, so you can cover up any chip out or whoopsies.
It's not likely you are ever going to find an original neck, so you may as well still have one useful piece if the project goes bad or you just end up not liking it.

 

[mongo2]

Interesting project. My questions are...

What's the string spacing at the bridge and will the Warmoth neck be too wide for the string spacing?

 

[VictorW126]

Route the body.
The body is softer, and the body is painted, so you can cover up any chip out or whoopsies.
It's not likely you are ever going to find an original neck, so you may as well still have one useful piece if the project goes bad or you just end up not liking it.

There is no need to damage the body. This is part of the story. If it's just a piece of wood for you, give it to a collector. I'd rather ruin a new neck that can be bought again than an original body that hasn't been made in over thirty years. By the way, you can buy a Disco neck in Russia for $10-15. Please note the difference in metric and inch sizes.

 

[Engle]

I hate to be "that guy" but Czechoslovakia wasn't part of the USSR. From 1948 to 1989 it was part of Eastern Bloc controlled by USSR, but never part of USSR itself.

Thank you, I wasn’t aware of that distinction.

 

[Engle]

Interesting project. My questions are...

What's the string spacing at the bridge and will the Warmoth neck be too wide for the string spacing?

It’s about 18mm. A little narrow for a Warmoth neck.

 

[Engle]

27123231[/URL], member: 252281"]Route the body.
The body is softer, and the body is painted, so you can cover up any chip out or whoopsies.
It's not likely you are ever going to find an original neck, so you may as well still have one useful piece if the project goes bad or you just end up not liking it.

27123364[/URL], member: 114942"]There is no need to damage the body. This is part of the story. If it's just a piece of wood for you, give it to a collector. I'd rather ruin a new neck that can be bought again than an original body that hasn't been made in over thirty years. By the way, you can buy a Disco neck in Russia for $10-15. Please note the difference in metric and inch sizes.

I appreciate the varied perspectives. I thought about which of my basses I enjoy playing more. And lately it’s the ones with the narrower necks: MIJ 4003 copy, Thunderbird VP, Jack Casady, Les Paul DC Tribute. So I decided to modify the neck and keep the body as is.
I made a maple block to extend the heel, glued it (hide glue), and got busy with the bench belt sander:

 

[Engle]

Rounded the edges to get the neck back to a similar profile and fitted to the body:

 

[JIO]

Rounded the edges to get the neck back to a similar profile and fitted to the body:
View attachment 4937068 View attachment 4937069 View attachment 4937070 View attachment 4937072

Well played!

 

[Engle]

I tend to get busy doing stuff (and my day job) and I forget to update project threads like this.

The next step was to address the electronics. There's one Tesla branded pot and one other. Both measure about 120K. I cleaned everything up, installed a new output jack and wired it as per the factory schematic (helpfully provided on the add copy).
It essentially a high pass filter on the bridge pickup and a low pass filter on the neck pickup.... So as you turn up the bridge pickup it rolls off the bass and as you turn up the neck pickup, it rolls off the treble.

Strung it up with some old Chromes. One of the knobs has a bit of plastic broken of it on the inner ring, probably happened when they tried to push it on the replacement pot. I trimmed down the shaft and it's workable - Knob's not gonna fall off or anything.

I took it out to my R&B band practice. It's VERY responsive to hand position. Most basses are, but this one has a wide range of comfortable places for my hand to rest.
It's definitely got a voice! But I think it's muted a bit by the pots. That's easy to deal with.

I haven't oiled the roasted maple and it's really smooth. The neck is playable, nice action, no buzzes and even sounding all the way up. I don't hit the top frets much in the R&B band, but in my Dad Jam Band I do.

The tuners are cheap generics I had on hand. It needs something nicer.

I'm not convinced those are humbuckers. They buzz a bit. No worse than my MIJ Ric.

Here she is with her big brother:

Hangs very comfortably on the strap. I thought my wireless might need a longer cord, but it works.
That crack on the top bout will not move. I don't want to refinish it, so that's just part of the character.
Its a weird almost greenish shade of metallic black charcoal

More to come. Needs a colour matched headstock

 

[ctmullins]

Ridiculously cool!

 

[dagrev]

I think @JIO may be on to something with his eye for style. You need a Leisure suit....and some gold chains.

Looks great!