All The Basses 011: Jolana Iris Soviet Era Short-Scale Bass // Serek Basses
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- Опубліковано 22 кві 2023
- All the Basses is a project dedicated to showcasing some of the perhaps lesser known basses of years gone by. I do not claim to be a bass historian, I merely want to highlight some of the more interesting aspects of these instruments, and to showcase their tonality.
I am a total sucker for Telecaster-type Basses. This Soviet-Era short scale bass might be rough around the edges, but it packs in some nice features, great tone, and super solid construction.
Signal chain: Bass - Quilter Bass Block 800 - Scarlett 2i2 / mic'd Aguilar SL-112.
If you like what you see here, please visit:
www.serekbasses.com/
That strap nut with screw driver is genius!
Thanks a lot for a nice video about our instruments, specifically this bass was made where I live, in Krnov. The fingerboard is not rosewood, but hardened beech. The neck is made of maple and the body is made of alder. In hole F there was originally a leather sticker with the inscription "Jolana Krnov made in czechoslovakia".
...and the f-hole cavity was routed thru the f-hole. There is no top glued on. The body is alder, typically 5 or more pieces.
One thing important to know about Jolana (pronounced Yolana) is that it's not like Gibson or Fender where when it says Gibson, you know what it is. Jolana had many different factories over the years, the three most notable being Hořovice, Hradec-Králové, and Krnov. Each one of those is almost like a brand of its own, with their own models, parts and traits. The Iris is a Krnov model. Instruments made in Krnov are reliable and stable, you can't go wrong with them. They have thick necks that don't move much at all. I never had to adjust the truss rod on any of my three. The necks are made of one piece maple, the fingerboards are beech, and the bodies are poplar. The witness line on the headstock is just where the headstock wing was glued on, but the neck itself is one piece, like on a Gibson, except Gibsons have two headstock wings. The only thing I can say may be wrong on an instrument from Krnov is that the neck angle can be a bit shallow. But this is more prominent on guitars rather than basses.
I use an Iris bass as my primary bass. It's in much rougher condition than this one, but just like this one, required little to no setup to get going. I love it and I love Jolana Krnov guitars in general.
The other Jolana factories had arguably more ambitious designs than Krnov, and while I have little experience with them, the one Hořovice model that I have is much different than any of my Krnov models, and also worse. The neck is much thinner, but still stable, however the break angle is very bad, and the bridge design is horrible (I swapped it out with a Krnov bridge like the one on the Iris), and the electronics have issues. I only have the one, so I won't really judge the quality of the whole range, but those bridges are really not good. I would really love to get my hands on a Diamant. It was a highly regarded model back in the day, it has its own hardware and I think it would be showing the best of Hořovice.
Krnov kept it simple and kept it good. They didn't complicate their designs, they knew their limits, and made excellent instruments in their category.
I played punk rock in a teenage band on the same in early nineties). And I liked it
The two strap buttons were to act as a crude stand, also used by Dan Armstrong and Steinberger guitars. Keep up the good work
The moment you've turned to bridge mode - goosebumps!
Musima from GDR are actually great instruments. I got Musima Action Bass from 1987, and it is amazing.
Musima is on my list too!
I played Disco Bass Jolana and Diamond bass as well back in the 90's. The disco bass sounded actually peaty cool... Quite dead sounding but it was good vintage sound. You should take a look at Defil basses made in Poland in the same era. Kind regards.
Thanks, will do!
I have turquoise Jolana Disco Bass and I love it! This bass sounds really great and looks pretty cool!
Thanks for sharing this one, Jake! Never heard of it or seen one quite like it.
Always browse these on reverb and was tempted. Great to see they are actually good 👍🏻
Jake, you were always a great player. Good to see nothing has changed.
Aw shucks
Very interesting bass for sure! Very versatile in the sonics department. I played a similar bass in a music store in London when I visited there a few years ago. That bass was more in the shape of a Rickenbacker 330 guitar, but the pickup selection and zero fret neck were similar, as were the instrument scale and finish.
Wiring that 8 position switch with a few extra options could be neat, like both pickups in series
I think this is the same bass used on the viral video of the bass player that kept hitting the lead singer with the beck of the bass😂
I have the 6 string version of this, similar Telecaster shape, but interestingly enough has a Jazzmaster style trem (which was one of the selling points for me)! Additionally, mine also has "Jolana, Krnov, made in Czechoslovakia" written inside the F-hole. Never knew about the built in screwdriver though!
Now thinking of buying the bass version, as I love the guitar version so much! As I'm living in Hungary, Jolanas occasionally turn up on the used market (I saw a Diamant bass there just the other week in fact but it went very quickly), and I also have a Kolor bass (which is like a 335-style semi-hollow bass).
Edit: I ended up buying the next best thing, a Jolana Vikomt bass! It's almost identical in every way, save for the fact it only has one pickup (the neck pickup), and no 8-way selector switch. Not that it's a problem, from this video the neck pickup sounded far superior to any of the other configurations! In fact I might even prefer it that way, those 8-way selector switches can develop issues with heavy use and need regular maintenance (as happened with my Kolor bass, which I have since sold).
The Vikomt I bought was in perfect condition with a bright red finish (which was flawless, not a scratch and fairly glossy still, which is unusual for a guitar of its age), the previous owner had taken very good care of it. In fact I really struck gold there, it was in such perfect condition that he was considering donating it to a guitar history museum or something, till he saw my ad looking for one! He also gave it a full setup before selling it to me. Now even after just a week of owning it, it's become my favourite bass!
they never used plywood :) Solid wood body but its like 4 or 5 peace i worked on a lot of them and its always wood :)
Are these all from your personal collection? You have an amazing and unique collection if so.
Every short scale bass should have a bridge design that allows you to use regular long scale strings.
Good
Czechoslovakia! It’s like Wisconsin. We zip in, buy the basses, and zip out.
sounds great! What kind of strings are you using?
Resonet was a direct predecessor to the Jolana brand, they changed name in 1960 I think. The Iris was introduced in '73 and was produced into the late '80s, from what I've read, up to '88 or '89, in pretty large numbers too, somewhere over 20000 if my sources are correct. If you tell me the serial number (above the neck plate on the back of the neck) I can help you date yours.
You got the bridge backwards. The 4 notches in it should be facing the tailpiece, so that the strings are not able to lie flat on the metal and buzz. Btw the neck is maple, and the body is alder I think. That little tolex piece originally had the company logo printed on it, I don't know if some were made without the print or it got ereased or something, but I've seen a few without that too. The rotary switch should only have 4 positions, but the little thing in it that stop it from turning around all the way breaks very easily.
You mentio you'd like a Diamant, I really recommend you get one if you have the chance, it's a great bass, I've been using one as my main player for some time. Be careful with buying one though, the binding is very often in horrible condition, the plastic reacted over time with the paint, and it just shrivels up and falls off, which is ugly and pretty expensive to repair.
I've already made a new bindig on the neck of Diamant bas. Horrible work.
Could you help me date mine Jolana Iris? The number is 14563
What is the difference between parallel and out of phase electrically and why is the difference in sound?
It looks very similar to the Jedson....
Tonsstartsbandht riff 7:07 🫂
Thicc ❤
does anyone know where or have a good link to buy one of these? i cant seem to find them anywhere.
There is one currently on reverb in light blue
8:30 what pedal is THAT
EHX Freeze to hold the note, Digitech Ricochet (Dry Signal + Octave Up) and I think some Chorus
it’s just Czechia now
Never knew about the hidden screwdriver, very cool! Also I think it's pronounced "yo-lana", eastern european J's are weird
Zero fret should be the standard. Change my mind.
Shitty bass but much better than USSR models