Oscar Schmidt OE-30R Guitar

Taking a break from fountain pens for the day, and doing a review of my favorite red guitar. Oscar Schmidt is Washburn Guitars budget line, made overseas. Several of the models are overseas versions of Washburn guitars made in USA. The OE-30 is the overseas version of the Washburn HB-30. Both guitars are based upon the Gibson 335, which was first introduced in 1958, along with the then brand new humbucking pickup, of which the Gibson 335 and all its clones or copies have two.

My cherry red guitar has a 21-fret bolt-on neck, with medium jumbo frets, and Grover Tuners. Fret dressing is good, with no sharp edges. The neck is comfortably thin, and the dual cutaways on the body make the higher frets easily accessible. Playability is excellent; I give it a 4/5 for fit and finish.

The guitar originally came with 10-46 strings. I put on flatwound 12-52's, and had it set up by a luthier. The replacement strings were a little heavy for me, and the tone was so dark and woody, when replacement time came, I put back on 9-42's. I am not a proponent of using the thickest cables available to maximize tone. B B King uses 9-42's, and his tone is not widely criticized for being thin and lacking body. On playability, I give it a 5/5 with the proper strings.

The pickups on the OE-30 are actually Washburn 700 series humbuckers, with full, rich sound, and the usual high output a humbucker gives. It positively sings in both the clean and dirty channels on my Carvin MTS-3200 combo amp, with good balanced sound on both; however, on my son's Carvin Belair 212, the EL34 tubes and tone circuits roll off the high end too much on the dirty channel. That particular amp is more single-coil friendly, while the MTS series is a switch hitter for both single coils and humbuckers. For sound, I give the OE-30 a 5/5 with the right amp.

For value, I give the guitar a 5/5. Mine was actually a Father's Day gift from my children, who pooled their money and ordered me one online. A black version of the guitar is available Here.

No coffee review today. I do not currently have that many coffees I drink, so many of my coffee posts will be regarding brewing tips, or recipes for coffee beverages, including a low-carb version of a frappuccino style beverage.

Until later. . .