Jolana Galaxis

Discussion of vintage Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Bass VIs, Electric XIIs and any other offset-waist instruments.
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Birdman14
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Jolana Galaxis

Post by Birdman14 » Mon Mar 02, 2015 6:14 pm

Anyone have one of these really strange guitars? I can't seem to find much about them, apart from the fact that they were made in the late 70s-early 80s in what was Czechoslovakia. Their intensely offset body and strange JM-esque tailpiece interests me, plus the fact you can find them for 200-300 bucks. There was also a bass version.
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edit: the neck on that bass looks like a twig. :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by burntumber » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:43 am

really really really wanna hear those pickups!

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Zork » Tue Mar 03, 2015 4:39 am

I've got one in yellow. It's amazing. Best part is the lower strap pin which you can screw out and use as a little screwdriver like pictured here:

Image

The humbucking pickups are wired so they are split when the volume knob is at 10. Below 9 they are humbuckers though. They don't have a very high output and sound neither especially bright nor dull. I actually like them quite a lot. The whole guitar sounds as it looks: perfectly suitable for punk and garage stuff. As for the trem I can't say something. I don't have trem bar.

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by thenewromance » Tue Mar 03, 2015 2:00 pm

I have a Jolana Graziella II, but it is in very bad shape. I can't really judge it in its present state, but I believe Jolana are fun for the price, especially if you need a non-mainstream look or sound for your music. You gotta have a tolerance for trash, of course ;)

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Kinx » Tue Sep 19, 2017 7:35 am

Jolana Galaxis was my first solidbody :) they were super cheap in the 90s and nobody really wanted them, so most of them ended up in hands of young kids - like me at the time :)

I can't decide what I hate more about that thing - badly designed bridge (it actually floated on top of the pickguard and had some kind of cloth mounted on the bottom of the bridge posts, probably to protect the pickguard it floated on from scratches, maybe to damp string vibrations?) or particullary terrible set of pickups (super thin bridge pickup and muffled mid-output neck). Frets were made from some kind of very soft material, because I wore them out in about a year.

I developed kind of prejudice against Jazzmaster type vibratos because of this guitar, since it looked quite similar and I believed that Jag/Jazz vibrato is working in a similar fashion.

I couldn't believe how much better the actual Jazzmaster vibrato is !

anyway, I can imagine that after major modifications (body mounted TOM, different pickups, tuners, refret...) it may be playable on stage :)
Check out my band, The Atavists ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG-HZtrljMg

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Zork » Wed Sep 20, 2017 1:40 pm

You're a liar! >:(















:P
...actually I also installed a tune-o-matic on mine. I got it from a friend who traded it in a polish thrift store for his shoes. Went home barefoot but with a new guitar... :D

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Mechanical Birds » Thu Mar 31, 2022 5:25 pm

Obsessed with these and want one but have zero clubs on true quality or anything because all the videos are not in English

Bump for anyone else who has them and wants to talk some shit

I’d love to hear about them

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Kinx » Fri Apr 01, 2022 10:32 pm

What do you want to know? I know them pretty well. I used to hate them, but evetually came round recently and been thinking about getting one. The biggest issue is the bridge design - resting on top of the pickguard and held in place only by the pressure of the strings, the are no bridge mounts in the body and therefore it moves around all the time. The pickups are basically two Brilants (an older jolana design from the early 60s) wired together and gooped in epoxy - some potential for cool sound is definitely there :)
Check out my band, The Atavists ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG-HZtrljMg

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Kinx » Sat Apr 02, 2022 4:22 am

Worth mentioning - there is also a pickguard-less version of galaxis named Proxima, which has slightly better bridge situation (the bridge doesn't rest on top of the pickguard but on top of the body instead) and should be slightly more "stage ready" than the Galaxis. http://www.jolana.info/proximaI/proximaI.html#
Check out my band, The Atavists ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG-HZtrljMg

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Mechanical Birds » Sat Apr 02, 2022 4:32 am

Oh shit I’ve never seen those before but it looks cool. I didn’t understand the bridge thing until now but that sounds insanely stupid and confusing but also not impossible to fix

Mainly curious how stable or unstable they are but that bridge info goes a long way

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Kinx » Sat Apr 02, 2022 6:29 am

If the bridge design gets addresed (that means drilling bridge posts into the wood and a new bridge), it should be fine stability-wise. Be prepared for a refret, since Jolana used some kind of really soft wire for frets on all their models. The vibrato is nothing to write home about, but it could be usable for some gentle swells after proper setup and cleaning :)

there's also apparently a hardtail version of Proxima I've never seen ! http://www.jolana.info/proxima/proxima.html I would totally have that.

this site is really great for reference checking on Jolana models. This list should contain all Jolana production models: http://www.jolana.info/seznam_kytar.html

the site itself is in czech, but this link contains just the list and link to the gallery. Most of the instruments pictured there are stock.
Check out my band, The Atavists ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG-HZtrljMg

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Mechanical Birds » Sun Apr 03, 2022 12:14 am

The trem is what most excites me actually but it sounds like on any typical example I’d have to pump a lot of money into it to get where I’m trying to go.

Probably gonna pass unless by some miracle I see one close to me for really cheap, like <$100 or something

Thanks!

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Zork » Sun Apr 03, 2022 1:29 pm

They seem to go up in price. I just checked ebay classifieds and the cheapest was 190€, most expensive 350€. They are cool and nice and are actually quite playable with a little modding (=drill holes for a proper bridge & replace the crappy rotary switch) but I think 190€ is already too high for what they really are. Maybe 150 tops in good condition because the necks feel good and the pickups sound really good with any kind of fuzz and distortion.

It just came to my mind it could be a great project to build a "high end version" with proper wood and decent parts as the design is totally cool. I think especially in yellow they just look so badass!

Image

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Kinx » Sun Apr 03, 2022 11:58 pm

agreed with Zork, the mods needed aren't "that much". they got up in value even here in CZ where they used to be pretty ubiquitous and one could be had under 100e regularly.
Check out my band, The Atavists ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG-HZtrljMg

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Re: Jolana Galaxis

Post by Mechanical Birds » Mon Apr 04, 2022 12:02 am

Yeah ever since watching that Nels Cline rig rundown I’ve kept my eyes peeled for a good deal on any of those Hopf guitars with the cool trem unit but have yet to ever stumble onto one for a good price. This seems like a good compromise on that save for the dumb design flaws. I’d like to at least try one

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