My new Oscar Schmidt semi-hollow body arrived two days early!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015 -- I should be in bed, or the shower at least, but I wanted to give an update on my latest arrival.

My new Oscar Schmidt OE-30 looks like this one with some
some differences: Mine doesn't have covered pickups, the pickup
switch is in the upper bout, and the jack is on the edge, rather on the
top of the guitar. See below.

Sometime late Monday afternoon, my new-to-me Oscar Schmidt OE-30 semi-hollow body guitar arrived on the front porch. I just happened to check eBay and it said it was delivered -- oh boy! Christmas in May!

I was a little concerned at the fact one end of the box had just about busted open -- the last damn thing I wanted was to open the box and find my purchase just a pile of mahogany splinters. But on opening the box, I was very, very -- extraordinarily -- pleased to see my like-new cherry red OE-30 peeking at me from behind layers of bubblewrap.

I inspected her closely and she was undamaged ... and beautiful. The cherry red high-gloss finish was perfect. It is a transparent finish, and you can see the woodgrain. This guitar was well setup and the action is low. The pickups have been adjusted nicely, and damn, does it play very very well!

This guitar is what my tobacco sunburst OE-30 looks like.
My new cherry OE-30 has the same layout for the controls
and output jack, which is on the edge of the lower bout.

I spent about 45 minutes playing it ... I know its  the same as my tobacco sunburst OE-30, but it felt different, if that makes sense. The strings need changing as they sound a little dead, but it was still great to play.

On my original OE-30, I  need to raise the action on the high strings a little, as they don't ring out well when you go down the neck. I didn't have that issue with the new OE-30. I just love it. I put my tobacco sunburst OE-30 in its gig bag, I'm really planning to put it on eBay ... its a guitar I bought new, but I don't need to have two of them.

The OE-30 is an affordable way to have that ES 335 vibe or Epi Dot without the expense. Oscar Schmidt is owned by Washburn, and Washburn has their set-neck semi-hollow body, the HB 35 -- but the difference in price is substantial, and I mean hundreds of dollars more.

And let's be perfectly honest here -- I'm not a professional guitar player. I just like to play and learn about guitars and play better. I've had thoughts about trying to play with the church group just to get a a little experience, and learn from those who are better than I am.

I took a good look at the damage on my original OE-30, and its stable; in the years I've had it, there's been no change in the cracks. Most people don't even notice the damage, it isn't that visible.

So for now, the tobacco sunburst OE-30 is going in the gig bag and the cherry one is in the office ready to play. I really need to go ahead and put the TS one on eBay.

Oh, a couple of things I will need to address on the new one -- a couple of the pots are loose. I can fix that, no problem. I'm thinking of some speed knobs for it, rather than the gold witch hats.

Well, maybe later. Gotta go for now.

Rock on!