Washburn Review: Oscar Schmidt OE30-BK

History:

Purchase: Purchased from Musician's Friend. One for personal use and two for gifts.I was attracted to the very low price (for a semi-hollow body ES335 clone) and the positive evaluations on the net for this axe. I paid $150.USD each for these guitars.

What I Like About This Washburn Oscar Schmidt OE30-BK: For two out of three of the guitars,the finish and detail quality was surprisingly good (not excellent), and the sound quality, playability, intonation, lack of fret buzz quite good - especially considering the low price. The dramatic black tuxedo-like finish and ivory binding top, bottom and f-holes, fret finish, and tuners are quite good.

What I Do NOT Like About The Washburn Oscar Schmidt OE30-BK: I accepted minor flaws in the finish, some irregularity in the cutting and binding of the f-holes, jack receptacle nut looseness and cheese-ball strings as consistent with the low price on two of the guitars. I had to send one guitar back for exchange due to very crudely cut and bound f-holes that I could not accept, low price or not.

Washburn Oscar Schmidt OE30-BK Quality Rating: The overall appearance, sound and feel of the guitar is quite satisfactory despite my gripes on quality (again, 150 bucks a copy is very cheap for an ES335 clone). I mentioned some crudity in details such as f-hole cuts and finish.The two recent guitars had sawdust and wood scraps rattling around in the box(which did no harm)and this suggests that Oscar Schmidt/Washburn could tighten quality control a bit on these guitars.

Review Summary: In summary, I like the guitar and so do the recipients of the two bought as gifts. I hope that the replacement for my returned item will match the two satisfactory examples and all will be well. Remember, $150. for a nice looking , slightly flawed, well playing, semi-hollow bodied blues guitar is hard to beat. Washburn, get your factory to ratchet up the quality control just a little to keep this a winner!

Rating of this Washburn product: 4

This Washburn Oscar Schmidt OE30-BK Electric Guitars Review Submitted By: alfa62

Review Date: 2003-07-23