Rocking my semi-hollow body life away ....

Friday, May 29, 2015 -- I am enjoying the hell out of playing my new-to-me Oscar Schmidt OE-30 semi-hollow body guitar. So far I have hidden the fact I bought another guitar from my wife; I usually play when she's either at work or in bed, so she seldom sees me playing guitar anyway.

This SX EG-6 is one of the prettiest guitars
I have seen in a long time. I love the wine
red finish, gold hardware and the binding.
Should I buy it? Or can I hide another
guitar purchase from the boss???

My intent was to buy either the cherry, black of natural finish OE-30 and then sell my original one -- the tobacco sunburst model. That was the plan (emphasis on "was"). Actually I should do that ... but I have had so much fun and gotten so much enjoyment from my new OE-30 and that I now considering keeping it and setting it up so it sounds more like the new one.

Basically, I need to do more work on the action, intonation and pickup height. Electrically, the guitars are identical; improve the setup on the TS (tobacco sunburst) model is all that's needed.

OS discontinued the OE-30 some 9 or 10 years ago I believe, but later brought it back. I just checked the 2015 price list at OS, and the OE-30s list for $469.95.

There are several hollow body guitars I would love to own, just to own them. Among my wish list are:
1. Rickenbacker, any hollow body model
2. Fender thinline Tele
3. Gibson ES-335
4. Gretsch Falcon or Brian Setzer edition
5. Epi Dot
6. Epi Wildkat
7. Epi Riveria
8. Epi ES-339

There are a number of attractive Ibanez semi-hollow body guitars, too. I wouldn't mind owning any of those under $600.

Of my wish list, it is most likely I could afford the Epi models and the Thinline Tele. Squier has a Vintage Player model priced nicely. I just wonder if the sound is more Tele or more like my OE-30?

A guitar I left off my list is the Fender Coronado. I would certainly go for one of those, in Cherry Red. The styling just doesn't sit well with me; its attractive enough, but there's something about the "f" holes that just looks out of kilter somehow. OK, make that No. 9 on my list, lol.

The Coronado does have bound "f" holes, which to me is a very nice detail. My OE-30s have bound "f" holes, neck and body front and back. Guitars with the binding look plain and utilitarian. If that's the look you want, then that's fine. For me, I like the binding. The Epi 339 and Epi Dot both lack binding on the "f" holes, FYI.

There are some nicely built Chinese semi-hollow bodies on eBay ... Grote makes a nice looking guitar for $199 ... as does SX and several others. There are several hollow body guitars with single cutaway that are more like a Gretsch for under $180 .... I'm not crazy about a full-size hollow body simply due to the thickness. One Chinese seller offers to put your own logo on the headstock for an additional $30!

The truth is that if I buy another semi-hollow body, it will likely be a used name brand or an inexpensive import. I'm not that great a guitar player to really justify spending megabucks on a really nice (and expensive) Gibson, Gretsch, etc. The top of my budget right now -- at its highest -- would be $999 (and more realistically, in the $300 range if I didn't sell something to help build my guitar fund).

I bought some roller string trees for my strat, don't have them installed yet. Hoping to see if they'll reduce friction and improve tuning (and reduce detuning, lol).

Rock on, friends!