Jolana Galaxis: The 1978 "Eastern Bloc Jazzmaster" you never knew you needed
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- Junkyard Gear is BACK, baby! And we're kicking things off with a DEEP DIVE into a hidden gem: a 1978 Jolana Galaxis a.k.a. The Eastern Bloc Jazzmaster you never knew you needed! The outcome of this video is such a big surprise!
Prepare to be confused! Adam Krofian, the BIGGEST eastern bloc guitar nerd on Earth, takes you on a sonic journey through the soul of this late 70s Czechoslovakian relic. To put it into a context, we'll compare it head-to-head with its 1978 Fender counterpart!
This is more than just a gear review. It‘s a celebration of the unexpected, because we believe that every instrument has a story to tell. Even one of the most underrated and mocked guitar models of the whole Jolana history.
Is the Jolana Galaxis the real deal? Can it compete with the legendary Jazzmaster? Watch and find out!
P.S. We're not just back, we're here to stay! Stay tuned for regular content featuring unique, interesting, and often overlooked gear. We're on a mission to become the emperors of the junkyard, and we need your help. Subscribe, like, and leave a comment below!
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00:00 Intro
0:19 Introduction
0:39 Galaxis Catwalk
1:01 Talking About Galaxis
3:30 Jazzmaster Catwalk
4:04 Galaxis Playing 1 + Signal Chain Explained
4:56 Galaxis Specs
15:31 Galaxis Playing 2
17:11 Ergonomics + Galaxis Talk
18:30 Galaxis Playing 3
20:20 More Talking
21:20 Galaxis Playing 4: Sitar Sounds
22:10 Galaxis vs JM 1
23:27 Impressions
25:32 Galaxis vs JM 2
26:09 Impressions
26:54 Galaxis vs JM 3 - Fuzz Sounds
29:23 Impressions
31:06 Galaxis vs JM 4 - Neck Pickups
33:31 Impressions
34:17 Neck Pickup Comparison Continues
35:00 Conclusions
36:46 Goodbye Playing 
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This was a fun video to watch. Thanks guys! I was cheering for the Galaxis the whole time
The pickup wiring is interesting, similar to a Peavey T-60. So I'm about to grab one, while they are still cheap in Hungary. Thanks for showing this in such great detail. Nice playing btw!
Junktastic!
Thank you! Always wondered how Galaxis and Jazzmaster compare. 15 years ago I wanted a Jazzmaster and Galaxis was a more realisitic alternative. Unfortunately never found one for sale in my town. Got a Jazzmaster years later, but happy to see and hear it side by side to Jolana.
Thanks! Galaxis actually made me suspicious towards Jazzmasters for many years - however, I fell in love with offsets couple of years later and never looked back :)
You make the Jolana sound great excellent playing
Thanks! The sound was already there, we just picked it up :))
Sweet boys... more junk please!!! :)
Thanks! More junk coming soon 🫡
I think the jazzmaster sounds better clean, but if I was playing in something like a punk band with a lot of distortion, I would take the Jolana.
The Skoda of jazzmasters. I love it. Oh Czech Republic, will you ever cease to amaze us?
Today's Skodas are actually well-built cars that compete on the worldwide market. But if we're talking that era Skodas, your comparison is spot on :D A poor man's takes on what was produced in the free world. But somehow charming and if they survived till today in a nice condition, they gain value fast. Same as Jolanas.
Awesome. Keep videos like these coming!
Thanks! More videos coming soon ✌
These Humbuckers are soooo big :-D Nice playing as always, love it that you show us always the weird guitars.
Ohhh maaaan you are back :D
Thanks❤ Hopefully here to stay!
@@junkyardgear2738 We hope too, actually i have few Jolana guitars and i have moded them a lot. Also made some partscasters from jolana parts with other european guitars. And they used ebony and rosewood for fretboard in the early models but it is so thin you can see it on galaxis its like 2.5 - 3 mm. After that they used flamed beech on almost all guitars except hollow body. And they used all kinds of wood for body mostly maple junk leftovers. I painted and worked on nearly 40 of them.
I had never heard of Jolana guitars before this and now I'm seriously looking at buying one. Also, as a professional guitarist in LA with a real fascination with the soviet musical instrument industry it would be an amazing resource if you guys could keep posting any of the soviet era gear you've got floating around. Its surprisingly difficult to find anything in English about this stuff!
We definitely have more Jolanas to show! 🫡
Adam really can make shtt starts to sing... I had Galaxis in the 80s and my fingers still hurts. 😊
That fingerboard is not beech, it's ebony. Jolana used it whenever they could get some, I've seen it on a lot of models. I think it makes them extra cool, since even Gibson didn't use ebony freatboards for models other than their highest grade ones. They did use stained (or maybe baked, like earnie ball does with it's maple) beech for a lot of things though, your old one that you show a picture of definitely had the beech.
Ok but that tonne control option with the split at the very end is kind of cool as heck though?
Thanks for showing off this wild creature.
Hi! Cool indeed! I'm not sure about the practicality tho :)) If you typically went for something in between, it would be quite hard to get consistent output from the guitar. At least I would mess with the knobs all the time. My favorite sound from this guitar was the single coil in the bridge position. Setting it up for this is luckily the easiest thing :) Cheers! (Hugo)
awesome! please do Musima deluxe 25, ultimate eastern bloc jaguar
Awesome video. That was my 1st guitar. I am trying to hunt it down. I cut it up, reprayed it, smashed it, reglued it...maybe it still exists somewhere. The easiest Galaxis bridge cure is to cut holes in the pickguard and take the pads off the posts. The JM clean and neck pup are superior, but the Galaxis bridge pup has so much character! I'd like to see a hollow body review, maybe Diskant or Tornado...and also the original Diamant - plywood for the win!
Thanks! I think putting the Galaxis bridge pickup into a jazzmaster would be ultra cool, gotta try that sometime ! We actually own both Diskant AND Tornado, so something may come up in near future :)
Second that! Would love to see Diamant, another personal Jolana favourite (next to Galaxis), next to a Gibson or an Ephinone Les Paul, for a very unfair comparison =) Somehow I am convienced that they only share the body shape. Diamant seems to be a good and unique-sounding guitar of its own with its Saphir pickups, as can be heard on the album of Ivanov-Down, Best Urban Technical Noises (and their live shows).
Adam feels like Gothaj............ Best guitar sticker ever 🙃
Gothaj recipe is one year more vintage!
I had concept of making guitar with Jazzbass body with offset vibrato system. I suddenly told myself "wait a minute it reminds me Jolana Galaxis" 😀
When you make it, let us know 🔥
It should be added that in the following ten years of production, the neck radius was already 7.25" and it takes about 30 minutes to seat the bridge through the pickguard to the wood - which in itself also solves the problem with the sticking bridge set screws, because they unscrew a lot more.) Well, let's compare Jolana Diamant (79') vs. Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty Custom! I happen to have one, two, maybe three Diamonds right now, you can choose.
Thanks for the comment, TBH I never saw a Galaxis with 7.25" neck radius (my original one was from the 80s and it had thinner neck profile, but same flat radius as this one) :) I think the flat radius was inherited from the Star VII, which is also where the bridge / vibrato assembly comes from (the bridge radius matches the fretboard radius quite well. Of course there are many ways of curing the bridge posts problem, but I choose to review the guitar as it is, in it's stock form. The Diamant comparison would be definitely cool !
and the tesla studio loudspeaker at the back
Yes!!
How does the Galaxis compare to other Jolana guitars (Tornado, Iris etc), in terms of playability? (Obviously the 60s Jolanas look cooler and cost a lot more, but are the actually better quality than Galaxises?)
Hi, this is Hugo. I've had some and tried some Jolanas in my life, but I wouldn't call myself an expert at all. However, my impression is that the ergonomics of the guitars differ very much among the models. But a lot of the guitars I tried were highly playable. The feel of these guitars is somehow great, but it's usually not because of precise luthiery. But at the same time, I must say that a lot of people have bad experiences with these guitars because they were modded/crippled or weren't set up properly, with string action too high and the bridge at a very different place than it should be. Very common. Sometimes it's fixable and you can save this poor guitar attacked by a not-so-handy-man and it can still be a great guitar. But to your question: My Tornado (60s) is a great player, I used to own a Rubín guitar (73), that was on of the most comfortable guitar ever. Adam has some pieces that sound awesome despite their horrible neckshapes and of course some pieces that both sound great and are comfortable to play. Of course it's always better to try for your own since this is highly subjective. Cheers ✌
@@junkyardgear2738Thanks for replying. I guess the answer is to try each guitar for yourself, and then trust your own feeling/ear. A very subjective business, and depends greatly on each player's musical tastes and wants.
old peavey T series have the same tone controls :)
That sounds really nice, I would have been happy with a guitar that good in the 80s in the UK, we had terrible guitars from Japan, columbus and jedson shit, awful guitars, these ain't that bad compared to the shit we had
Awful guitars from Japan being much worse than Jolana Galaxis… that sounds like Adam’s 90s nightmare 🤣
To be real? The Jolana Galaxis handeled won the fuzz better and cooler than the Fender.
It feels weird, but I totally agree. Especially in the single coil mode. (Hugo)
@@junkyardgear2738 This guitar needs a comback on som distortion and overdrive pedals! It sounds amazing.
Udělejte to v češtině a budete mít daleko větší sledovanost 👍
Koukám na počet obyvatel České republiky a na počet obyvatel zbytku světa a moc to nevychází 🙃✌️
@@junkyardgear2738 Na ČSSR gear je to podle mne rozumnější. Jolany zná naprosto každý muzikant v Č.R. Kolik muzikantů v zahraničí asi tak zajímá nějaká Jolana a má tušení kde Česká Republika je ?
@@botwinjohn8695 možná byste se divil :) toto video má například jen 16% views z Česka.
@@junkyardgear2738 Tomu se vůbec nedivím. Je to kanál s anglickým názvem a anglickou titulkou. Já jsem se na to video dostal přes Váš komentář u Maťova videa. Kytary mne zajímají ale RUclips algoritmus mi Váš kanál nikdy nenabídl.
@@botwinjohn8695 No tak jsme rádi, že jste se k nám doklikal :) Algoritmus vám to dost možná nikdy nenabídl, protože tohle je první video po víc než třech letech. Díky za názor, my s dovolením zůstaneme u angličtiny. Většina Čechů je s angličtinou v pohodě. Obráceně to neplatí. Hezký den.
Dobry den, I used to see these shitty guitars when I lived in the Czech Republic, they were in second hand shops and sold for crazy prices
Wow! When did you live here? And the prices were crazy high or crazy low? 😀
@@junkyardgear2738 15 years ago, I have a daughter that still lives there with her mum, I lived in kvetnice, the prices were more than a high end squier, I still wanted one though, I loved all soviet era stuff, my partner at the time did not for obvious reasons