This picture is of my own guitar. I like the way it looks. One of the few Soviet-era guitars that isn't a total weirdo! It's similar to the color in the picture directly below but it looks gold-ish when the light hits it a certain way, and more silver in less bright light. I'm not 100% sure if it's the original paint or not. I have seen similar examples so I'm leaning towards it's the original paint.

The pick guard is an interesting shape with the borders painted either black or gold. The bridge is not fixed, it floats on top of the pick guard. The controls are very simple - a single volume control and tone control. The pickup selector switch is rather unique - the position closest to the strings turns all pickups off, the next position down is the bridge pickup only, the next position downwards is the neck only and the furthest position down is bridge and neck combined. The pickups also have little squares or triangles next to them as well, matching the symbols at the switch, but not all examples seem to have this feature. This guitar uses a standard 1/4" output jack.

The "Brilant De Luxe" pickups are a very interesting design. Rather than having pole pieces that adjust vertically to make the pole pieces closer / farther from the strings, this pickup utilizes sliding plates which are held in place by a screw. Moving these pieces changes the strength of the magnetic field. They have a relatively low output, with a DC resistance of approx. 6K and around 40mV output. I think that is partly what gives these guitars their distinctive sound.

Here we can see the pickup removed with the two mounting tabs in view. These pickups are most commonly compared to the P90, which they do sort of sound like.

This is what the bottom of the pickup looks like. The baseplate wraps around two long sides of the coil & magnet and the plastic cover with screws fits over the top. It's a simple and low profile design, which allows the use of a comparatively thin body.

With the pickguard removed we can see the simple wiring. The pots are made by the same TESLA which I highlight in my Soviet-era Guitar Effects Field Guide. The pickup selector switch is an odd 2-pole 8-position rotary switch constructed of a bakelite type material which is only "half utilized". Some people have modified their pickup switch to a "Varitone" type system. Personally I like mine just the way it is.

Here we can see the bridge removed from the body. It is a very simple and effective system that is used on a few other Jolana guitars. It consists of a plate that is fastened to the body and another spring loaded plate that is bent 90 degrees on one end which sits underneath. This passes thru a thin slot. The ball end of the strings pass through this piece which rises out of the mounting plate. There is a cylindrical piece that protudes thru the mounting plate which the threaded end of the "whammy bar" can be inserted into, and the screw adjacent to that is what adjusts the stiffness of the system.

In this view we can see how the two pieces interact and the stout coil spring. Note that the cone on the screw which joins these two pieces together should actually be on the other end of the spring. There is a green felt pad which prevents clacking noises of the two metal plates. Basically is very similar to the "tremolo" & tail piece on the Fender Jaguar & Jazzmaster guitars. Not an exact copy but close in the overall from and function. The Fender "tremolo" system was first introduced in 1958. This version of the Jolana "tremolo" first appeared on the Grazioso model in 1961.

In this cross sectional view we can see the proper orientation of all the parts that comprise the bridge assembly.

The headstock has a distinctive shape. Kind of quasi-Stratocaster in a way but its own thing. Definitely not as weird (or fugly) as what can be found on guitars made in the Soviet Union during the same time period.

The back of the headstock reveals what looks like classical guitar tuners. Despite the appearance of being cheap, they are actually pretty good tuners and at least on my guitar they stay in tune pretty well.

This piece of molded plastic fits over the tuning pegs and gears to protect them and keep dirt, etc. off of them. Once again, despite its appearance, it's more durable then you might think. I have seen these in a clear and a sort of dull clear plastic as well.

A unique feature of some of the Jolana guitars is the strap button screwdriver which inserts into the body near the bridge. Could come in handy to tighten up a loose screw, but it would have to be a little one because it's kinda small. It was mainly intended for adjusting intonation.

This picture is of someone's restoration project. Here we can see the truss rod adjustment at the heel end of the neck. There are holes drilled in the flats of the nut that a tool can be inserted into in order to make adjustments. It was kind of ahead of its time. The first time I encountered this sort of truss rod adjustment system was on my Parker Nitefly Mojo that I bought in 2005.

Finally, here is a view of the bridge with cover over the saddles. It is very similar to the bridge used on the Fender Jaguar & Jazzmaster. The bridge and saddles seem to be made of stainless steel or a high quality steel (in this picture the parts are a little rusted). The saddles themselves are also interesting in that they are like a piece of round bar stock that has been cut in sections, drilled and tapped for a long screw and a shallow slot has been cut along the round edge for the string to sit in. It's simple and it works.