Oscar Schmidt O315 Parlor Size Acoustic Guitar

I love this guitar! It was just what I was looking for. I have a regular sized guitar, which I was playing, my fingers were absolutely killing me & I was having to use a capo high on frets because of having trouble reaching some notes, not to mention it was huge & heavy & awkward so I had switched over and was practicing on my grandson’s small guitar, but after playing a regular guitar, it sounded like a child’s toy guitar. My dad, who plays bluegrass, told me “well you know, some ladies play the parlor guitars, they’re a smaller guitar but not a child’s guitar” so I did my research. I was afraid after ordering this parlor guitar that it wouldn’t sound like a big guitar so had already decided well I can at least practice with the parlor & when we play at pickings I can take my big guitar so I’m not killing my fingers while practicing. From the minute I got this Oscar Schmidt, I was so careful unboxing it, just Incase It didn’t sound good, so I could send it back. Oh my goodness. I took it out of the box, Love at first sight! I tuned it & started playing, this guitar fits me, it is my size, the sound is so rich, deep & smooth, it sounds better than my big guitar. I am so in love with this guitar. It isn’t heavy, fits comfortably into my arms & lap. The neck sticks out a bit longer, it’s longer but thinner so a woman can easily hold it & play. The strings are so nice & thick & my fingers just roll off them, the tones are rich & deep. I tuned it the day I got it, haven’t had to retune yet & I play my guitar 1-4 hours per day. I play the ukulele as well & have several ukes & with new ukes you constantly have to tune & tighten the strings until you break them in. I had wondered with this being a smaller guitar if I’d have to break the strings in like on a uke but absolutely not. If I have a house fire - I’m grabbing my Oscar Schmidt Guitar first. My fingers are no longer about to cut into and bleed from playing my big guitar too much, it’s so much easier on my hands, fingers & posture. One of the reviews I had read before I ordered it said it came with a hard case, please note, it now no longer comes with a hard case. The case is a very well-made hard canvass case with nice storage pockets with zippers & the inside of the case is padded with a thick sponge-like padding, the case is black, it is a very well-made case but it is not a hard case. I will post pictures and a video of me playing this guitar soon so you can hear the wonderful sound. I was super impressed & it was even above what I thought it would be! I will always treasure this guitar & hope to learn lots of new songs with it!

First fret action height a bit up for me. Very nice nut width and neck profile. Will cut the nut and lower. Already changed the strings for some Martin's. Nice little guitar.Intonated bridge works well. Looks like glue and screw-on on bridge. Screws under the inlays. May mean it was glued to the top "as finished" ... Prolly OK as long as the polly holds up. Maybe tough to reset bridge if it pops off in 10 years ...Plenty volume for a small body. Sounds fine. The Martin strings helped with the bass side and mellow'er sounding.May be really good guitar to fool around with different string combo's. Thinking about some Ernie Ball Super Slinky's in very light gauge for the heck of it :)

I'm very impressed with this guitar, especially for the price. I'm not sure how a company can make a guitar of this quality level, with a case, with a non-mainstream parlor design and not lose money. This must be the result of mass production strategies and/or cheap labor, but the quality does not seem to suffer. What is particularly impressive is that the guitar arrived with decent setup. The action is set low with no buzzing and the intonation is very close to correct. The neck relief seems just about right. I think a few minutes with a file on the bridge saddle-bone will fine tune the intonation spot-on. All other guitars I've bought (included those costing thousands of dollars) required considerable time for me to set up perfectly, so again - how does a company put this time into good setup and not lose money? It seems to be one of those unsolvable mysteries.I would like to clarify the string spacing at the nut since there was some uncertainty about this when I researched this model. The nut width is just shy of 1.9 inches and the string spacing across all 6 strings is about 1.6 to 1.7 inches. As a classical guitar player, I find this spacing just about ideal for a steel string guitar, but steel string players that are used to narrowly spaced strings may find this too wide.Also, I love the overall design and look of this parlor guitar. I wanted a 12-fret-to-body design with the bridge halfway between the sound hole edge and the body edge. I find this to be a better structure for smaller body guitars both in terms of sound production and holding the guitar comfortably. Of course these are personal preferences and are likely to be the preferences for classical guitar players, but I thought I would mention these features.The initial tone I'm getting with the guitar is reasonably good and it should only get better with time and playing. I have no complaints about the guitar, but I will mention that the tuners could be better. Mind you, at this price, I can't expect great tuners, but the guitar is worthy of a tuner upgrade at some point. The installed tuners are a bit toy-like in feel with significant backlash that makes tuning a little more time-consuming than desirable.

First of all, the guitar DOES come with a hard shell case. This guitar sounds amazing! I've never played a guitar with trembesi wood but i love the tone. Its bright yet the bass is clear enough to even out the tone. It has a solid feel and the strings are actually spaced a little more than the average acoustic. If you play delta blues or any blues/folk/blugrass you will be in heaven. I never thought I would buy a Washburn guutar but now I regret never buying one in the past. If your debating on buying this piece of art just buy it. For the price, you cannot beat it. The only problem im having is the left tuner knobs are bolted on and placed uneven and the right side is fine. Im a perfectiinist so I will either contact Washburn or fix it myself. UPDATE: It has been nearly 1 year with this beauty and she still treats me well. I would definately recommend to a friend. Also affordable !