thcraymer's Music Gear Setup

As a psychedelic/shoegaze musician based in Hungary, this guitar was among the best (and cheapest) purchases I've ever made! It's a vintage guitar from early '70s Czechoslovakia, and is a sort of cross between a telecaster and a jazzmaster/jaguar (having the form, pickups, and simple switch plate system resembling the telecaster, and the bridge with a tremolo system resembling the jazzmaster/jaguar, so at least in my opinion, is the best of both worlds). The sound resembles that of a telecaster, is extremely clear (even when distorted), and just as versatile as a tele (more so in fact, because of the tremolo system). For a guitar that was almost 50 years old when I purchased it, it was kept in amazing condition by the previous owner, and keeps in tune better than some of my newer guitars, while having an extremely comfortable tremolo system too. It's now become my go-to electric guitar!

Recently bought this bass second hand locally, as I already had the 6-string Jolana Iris, and was aware that a bass version existed, so wanted to get that, as I was so satisfied with the guitar version. I wasn't able to find an Iris in good condition going locally, but someone was selling a Vikomt, which is the same as the Iris, but with only a neck pickup, no bridge pickup. Not a problem for me, from the reviews the neck sounded much better than the bridge anyway.

I was pretty lucky with the one I found. Often Jolanas being sold are in quite poor condition (and can have electronics issues and/or flaws in the finish). The one I bought was in perfect condition: the pickup and electronics worked just like new, no additional noise from them (as I had with a previous Jolana bass), the bright red finish was flawless, and everything from the bridge to the tuners was in amazing working condition, like brand new. The guy who sold it to me also did a full setup, which was very kind.

Now for the playing experience: it's very comfortable to play, being short scale, and is not too heavy, at the same time there's no neck dive or anything. Considering it only has one single coil neck pickup, the sound is extremely versatile: roll the tone knob all the way down for something resembling a classic P-bass tone, roll it all the way up and you get a very bright funky sound with a lot of bite (I usually keep it in the middle). It also cuts through the mix better than any other bass I have ever owned.

So I'd definitely suggest going for these, if you want a vintage bass, a piece of history, that isn't too expensive, and you can find one in good condition!