Oscar Schmidt OD312CE 12-string guitar
Oscar Schmidt OD312CE acoustic-electric 12-string guitar
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Brothers Oscar and Otto Schmidt began building and selling musical instruments in 1871, selling mainly door-to-door in the American South and and Southwest, but also through small retailers throughout the United States and Canada. Early on, the brothers sold zithers and lap harps (the name Autoharp is an Oscar Schmidt trademark), but expanded their product line to include guitars, mandolins, ukuleles and banjos.
Oscar Schmidt instruments peaked in popularity in the 1920s, surviving but with sales declining until they were purchased by Fretted Industries in 1979. Today Oscar Schmidt is considered a budget line for Washburn (another Fretted Industries brand with a long and storied history), much as Squier and Epiphone are budget lines to Fender and Gibson, respectively.
I bought my first Oscar Schmidt instrument, an OB100 acoustic-electric bass guitar, in 1994, and it’s been one of my favorite instruments. For the price, I find it well-built and very playable. When the time came that I needed an acoustic 12-string for my solo work and for performances with the dUUdes, I looked at several manufacturers including Martin, Ovation, Ibanez and Luna, but again I found that the best balance of quality and features to price led me to Oscar Schmidt.
The OD312CE acoustic-electric 12-string has a spruce top, mahogany back and sides, mahogany neck with adjustable truss rod, rosewood fretboard, and a single cutaway to make it easier to reach high notes. The electronics include a 3-band EQ and a built in quartz tuner. I think my favorite feature, though, is the output section: it has both 1/4” and XLR jacks to plug into an amplifier, PA or sound board. It’s available in three finishes: black, tobacco sunburst, or the natural finish I chose.
A 12-string guitar has six sets of doubled strings. The lowest four pairs are tuned in octaves, and the last two pairs are tuned in unisons. This tuning (EeAaDdGgBBEE) has a natural chorusing effect, allowing a single guitarist to sound as if he’s part of a duet. This makes a 12-string guitar an excellent choice for a solo musician. Some downsides of 12-string guitars are that they can be difficult to keep in tune, and that the doubled strings can take some getting used to, particularly when playing barre chords.
The body of the OD312CE is big enough to produce a warm, balanced tone, but still comfortable to hold. The neck is well shaped to accommodate the 12 strings with room for the player’s fingers, and the instrument is well balanced, not top-heavy like some other 12-strings I’ve played. All in all, it’s a fine instrument considering the $339 retail price tag. I got mine at an online retailer in North Carolina for $179.
Photo by Donna Jo Wallace