Oscar Schmidt OE30CH – Elite Experience On a Budget

Body And Neck:
Electronics:
Hardware:
Sound:
Value:

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Ever since Washburn acquired them, Oscar Schmidt has upped their game. OE30CH is just one of the examples of what this company can do. At the moment, it's on the top list of best semi hollow body guitars on the market, and here's why.

Body and Neck

Semi-hollow body guitars and hollow body guitars are as old school as it gets. With that said, building one takes a lot more time and craftsmanship than your regular solid body guitar. This is why it's absolutely impressive when a brand releases a guitar of this type in a pretty affordable price range.

Oscar Schmidt OE30CH features that standard double cutout body shape we've seen on so many guitars of this type. Build quality is surprisingly good. There are rarely any issues with how different body components fit together. The only true way to check the quality of a semi hollow is to play it. If everything was done properly, you will hear and feel it. OE30CH passed with flying colors

Hardware

The hardware Oscar Schmidt went with is in line with that classic, vintage image of a semi-hollow. However, it's actually pretty modern. Instead of installing a complicated vintage bridge with a tailpiece, Oscar Schmidt simply installed a standard Tune-o-Matic bridge. This decision greatly simplifies things for the user as well as the manufacturer.

The tuners you get are pretty decent. They will hold the tune more than well enough under normal conditions. Some might have a problem with the fact that Oscar Schmidt took this route, however it makes the OE30CH a much more practical guitar than it would have otherwise been.

Electronics

Pickups are another element where this guitar breaks off from the established semi-hollow narrative. Instead of offering a couple of soap bar pups or something similar, Oscar Schmidt decided to install a pair of standard humbuckers. This changes things in a rather interesting way.

You get the same range of tone and versatility as you would from a solid body, but with the additional ‘flavor' of a semi-hollow. Aside from being easier to grasp from the get-go, you are presented with a chance to experiment with some pretty exciting tone configurations.

Sound

Everything we have talked about up to this point should give an idea as to what kind of tone you can expect from Oscar Schmidt OE30CH. Right off the bat, it comes across as a bit more aggressive than your usual semi-hollow. On the other hand, it still preserves a lot of that signature character which defines a semi-hollow guitar. Those who want to play a mixture of hard rock, blues and maybe even jazz, will find this Oscar Schmidt to be a pretty interesting solution.

Conclusion

While it's not really canon, Oscar Schmidt OE30CH combines the best solid body and semi-hollow body guitars have to offer. On top of all that, it's relatively affordable, allowing budget users to experience what these guitars are all about.

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