recently aquired in a trade. Plays and sounds great, reminds me a lot of a Mustang Bass, but with a Thinline Tele style body...
Sounds like crossover between a short scale Fender and a SG bass (so very to my liking! A very unique thick single coil sound....
These were made between 1973 and 1978 and the Iris Bass was the 2 pu version of the Vikomt Bass. (both models were also availble in guitar form)
Jolana was perhaps one of the best instrument manufacturors from the former eastern block.
They made the Grasioso/Futurama's that were sold in England, before production went to Hagström.
So, it's no real surprise the feel of the Jolana Iris Bass bears a lot of resemblence to the Hagström solid guitars...
This is the version with the Alnico pu's. Most of these bases came with non alnico blade single coils.
Pu's are kind of Fender inspired, but with a wider/taller wound coil.
This is how I got it. Overpainted in a rather crude black...
neck was untouched...
After some carefull removing of the paint, the original "red burst" apeared from under the black paint.
paint had cracked over the years and a lot of the original finish was worn of and the white base coat seamed to have withstand the elements of time.
This bass was used/abused a lot in it's life....
So, now I'm a bit puzzled on what to do. It plays and sounds great,
it has some kind of filter 4 position rotation switch that gives some very usable sounds.
But the finish looks a bit too far gone....
These guitars were known for their notorious low quality paint, but I like the red burst a lot. It's very unusual looking and perhaps a typical Jolana thing. It's very different from for example Japanese guitars from this era.
Also the paint is worn over the last45/50 years, so I'm not to keen of stripping the whole body....
So, would you refin this thing?
Leave it like it is?
Or try a touch up (with matching red/black paint)?
