Oscar Schmidt OE30...Any reviews?

Rondo makes the descision a bit tougher: Agile AS-820 Semi Hollow Body Natural. For only a tiny bit more the Agile is nice and I like the look as well...plus it has the humbuckers, Grover Tuners and Jumbo Frets (which I like!)...Shipping was $15 for my zip code...so $215 for a great guitar?

I would like your opinion...if you were chosing between this or the OE30 which would you choose?

Thanks

I agree with Moai. The Agile is a very nice looking guitar, and I really like the inlays. But since I haven't had one in my hands, it's tough to say. I can't imagine a better hollow-body for the money than the OE 30.

But, I really do like those inlays. But I guess I don't like them $65 better.

Scott

It is possible that both guitars are the exact same thing, just different names. I am sure someone here knows more about this than I.

I see quite a number of differences just checking out the pictures (without judging):

1. Set neck -- bolt-on neck
2. Covered, adjustable pole-piece 'buckers -- uncovered, non-adjustable pole-piece 'buckers
3. Block inlays -- dot inlays
4. Figured maple top -- plain maple top
5. Gold hardware -- chrome hardware

Doesn't mean one is a better player than the other, but there is a clear difference in the level of materials used. Craftmanship is another matter, difficult to judge from photos.

I think it was gnease that originally pointed out to me that my poles weren't adjustable. I don't know if this a big deal, but it's something to consider. In my opinion, I think that's really the only functional difference between the two.

I'm not crazy about the gold hardware, but that's just me.

It is possible that both guitars are the exact same thing, just different names. I am sure someone here knows more about this than I.

I see quite a number of differences just checking out the pictures (without judging):

1. Set neck -- bolt-on neck
2. Covered, adjustable pole-piece 'buckers -- uncovered, non-adjustable pole-piece 'buckers
3. Block inlays -- dot inlays
4. Figured maple top -- plain maple top
5. Gold hardware -- chrome hardware

Doesn't mean one is a better player than the other, but there is a clear difference in the level of materials used. Craftmanship is another matter, difficult to judge from photos.

One correction...the Agile has a spruce flame top and maple sides...

Other than that are you saying for the money the Agile offers more features? Forgive me for being ignorant but I don't know what the difference is between the adjustable or non adjustable humbuckers...what would I need to adjust? I do like the gold hardware and natural top but the tobacco sunburst is stunning and I have always like that look...I have also said it before that I prefer set necks...I can't give you a reason...just that my Agile LP has one and it just stuck with me..from what I am told they hold their tune better...

Moai, as for the tele...I just decided that I wanted at least ONE American made guitar and to me the Tele is it...Some would argue the strat or Les Paul as the better American guitar. I just look at who primarily uses teles and it's usually (not always) country and blues players...two VERY American style genres. It's just the patriot in me that says to get the American Fender Tele...Is it better than the Agile or Squier? Well I sure hope so at that price!

Rondo makes the descision a bit tougher: Agile AS-820 Semi Hollow Body Natural. For only a tiny bit more the Agile is nice and I like the look as well...plus it has the humbuckers, Grover Tuners and Jumbo Frets (which I like!)...Shipping was $15 for my zip code...so $215 for a great guitar?

I would like your opinion...if you were choosing between this or the OE30 which would you choose?I got the Agile AS-820 natural. And to further cloud the issue, I got it with soapbar P-90 pickups instead of humbuckers. That's an option they offer periodically. I didn't know that a year and a half ago when I E-mailed Kurt at Rondo and said that if they made a semihollowbody with P-90s I'd have a hard time not buying one. Before long, that thing was on their website, "Back By Request!" Mine's right here beside me now. I love it! My boy does, too. He said something like "I sure wish you'd gotten that for me," and although he got a lovely customized Highway 1 Strat soon afterward, he kept sneaking my Agile off. I had to get him one of his own to keep mine where I could play it. He chose a goldtop 2500 LP clone with three P-90s.
:lol:

Just saw the question about whether the Oscar Schmidt and the Agile are the same guitar. They're not. Some differences were noted above. The OS is made in China. The Agile is Korean. If you want to see basically the same guitar as the Agile under another brand, it's in the Tokai "Love Rocks" series. According to Tokai's specs, the ceramic magnet P-90 pickups it uses are made in Japan by Gotoh. As are the tuners, which are quality units.

I love the sound of these extremely "hot" pickups, which have more "bite" to them than humbuckers (you wouldn't like that if you want a "dark" sound, but of course you can turn the tone down), and along with that you need to understand that they are monstrous hummers! They're single coils with far greater induction than any Fender-like single coil. The Agile has a pair that are reverse wound, reverse polarized so that the combination in the middle switch position is noise cancelling, much like a huge humbucker. The really distinctive P-90 sound comes from using a single pickup, though, either the neck or the bridge. I usually like the neck one best for most playing, going to the bridge when playing way up the neck. Strats are often said to "quack," and I love that sound. Well, P-90s "quack" in a deeper tone (a "honk," perhaps?), due to their far greater inductance-capacitance product moving the peak of their response curve much lower in the midrange than Strat pickups. Although that high inductance rolls off their response on the treble end, you still get more of the high harmonics than you can out of a humbucker, because the "window" along the string in which they sense the string's movement is narrower. They aren't as shrill on the high end as Fender single coils, though. They've just got their own sound. (The ones with ceramic magnets will be a bit brighter and somewhat "hotter" in their voltage output than the originals with Alnico III magnets, BTW.) These things put out a lot of signal voltage and will easily overdrive amps.

Those p-90s must be sweet on the semi-hollow. i'd have a hard time picking between the two.

Those p-90s must be sweet on the semi-hollow. i'd have a hard time picking between the two.

It's also almost $100 more... Agile AS-820 Semi Hollow Body with P-90's

Yeah, the price difference is substantial. To me, though, the P-90s made it worthwhile. Any sort of upgrade to those would run that much, soapbars won't fit humbucker cavities (you have to use one of those special "P-90s" in a humbucker profile), and the Agile is a very nicely finished, nice playing guitar.

The one gripe I've got on it is the soft black plastic nut, which caused binding when I went to fatter strings. Sawing the strings in the nut slots (see my thread in "Guitar Repair and Maintenance" on "Opening Up The Nut") has fixed it for now, but a nice bone nut would be a welcome upgrade.

I got the Agile AS-820 natural. And to further cloud the issue, I got it with soapbar P-90 pickups instead of humbuckers. That's an option they offer periodically. I didn't know that a year and a half ago when I E-mailed Kurt at Rondo and said that if they made a semihollowbody with P-90s I'd have a hard time not buying one. Before long, that thing was on their website, "Back By Request!" Mine's right here beside me now. I love it! My boy does, too. He said something like "I sure wish you'd gotten that for me," and although he got a lovely customized Highway 1 Strat soon afterward, he kept sneaking my Agile off. I had to get him one of his own to keep mine where I could play it. He chose a goldtop 2500 LP clone with three P-90s.
:lol:

One thing I am not sure I like about the Agile is that the instrument jack looks awkward on the front...the OE30 has it on the side...Does this cause issues for you or do you use the cables with the 90 degree jack?

Thanks

I run the cable from the back of the guitar through the strap, then plug it in. The strap holds it against the body, preventing it from being yanked accidentally. I use a straight plug and have no problem with it. It's the same jack position as on the Gibson ES-335, which the AS-820 was originally a close copy of. When the federal judge in Nashville ruled against PRS for violating Gibson's trademarks with their single cut model that resembled an LP, the Agiles changed their headstock shape, and the AS-820 got its "horns" trimmed back a bit so it's not identical in shape to the ES-335.

I know this can depend on the amp. But on the OE30 could you get some nice hardrock tones out of it? Maybe something along the lines of AC/DC?

Yes, you can do that.

A semihollowbody will be more sensitive to feedback than a solid body guitar at high volume and gain levels, but it's nowhere near as sensitive as a hollowbody. The middle of the guitar body is filled with a solid block of wood, so it's more like a solid body with mostly decorative hollow "wings." They were designed that way to cut the feedback that hollowbodies are plagued by. In fact, they're direct descendents of Les Paul's original "log," a solid pine 4x4 body that he dressed up with the sides of an Epiphone acoustic to make it look like a guitar. I doubt the Gibson designer (whose name I can't recall) who came up with the ES-335 in the late '50s was thinking about "The Log," though.

My Roland Cube-15 has a setting that mimics a "Death Metal" pedal or whatever, and it sounds awesome! With the flats it is a little too dark, believe it or not, but man the sustain is unreal. Just don't get too close to the amp with the gain up or every dog in the neighborhood will be at your house in seconds!