Oscar Schmidt by Washburn. Uke's and more!

• 2864 Answers SOURCE: Hello, Dianne - Auto harps are still being made under the Oscar Schmidt brand name. The company may hold records in its archives listing the years specific models and serial number ranges were manufactured.

I suggest you contact the manufacturer and ask if there are records in the company archives which can give you and idea of the age of the instrument: There is also a discussion forum for those who are interested in auto harps: Autoharp Talk: You will need to register (free) to post a question.

Hi all, I just bought a used OE30 Delta King. I'm at least the third owner. Can anyone tell me how to decode the serial number on a Washburn? This is made in Indonesia, paper sticker inside, no markings on the neck or headstock to indicate it is a blem.

Serial Number: S104101592 The reason I am wondering about it being a blem is that the finish is pretty poor. The sunburst finish has several stains (like overspray of the dark gray color), and the polyurethane finish has a dimple on one side, like someone touched it while the polyurethane was still drying. The action was too low (string buzz all around), but that was simple to adjust. The intonation is perfect. The pickups sounded muddy and over-bassy, but by adjusting the pickup heights I got the sound I'm looking for: very clean on one, and nice and jazzy/mellow on the other.

With both on, I get a nice warm overall tone. I paid $200 for the guitar, a high-quality cord, and a Fender Frontman 25R amp.

I figure the amp is worth about $75-100, so I paid $100-125 for the guitar. Even with the finish flaws I think this was a decent deal.

So, if anyone can help me with the serial numbers, I'd appreciate it. I'm hooked on craigslist and am looking at another OE30 later today! Thanks, Robster robster! Delta King OE30. Thanks, Calam. I loosened the strings and then raised the bridge several turns on both sides, going slowly until the buzz was gone.

I had buzz on nearly all frets on all strings, so someone had been overeager improving the action. Whoever did the intonation did a great job, as you can see big differences in the adjustments on each string. I looked at another OE30 this morning, this one was newer, made in China. The finish was stunning, beautiful semi-transparent blue. Absolutely gorgeous. Fret buzz abounded, and worse several strings would not stay in tune. The Grovers looked different than the ones on mine, they said 1.8 on them, and the word Grover looked fuzzy.

Maybe they were copies, and not really Grovers. The pickups were different, and had screws for each string (similar to the Humbuckers on a different electric guitar I own). My Washburn pickups don't have the individual screws. The strap popouts were different, and on the Chinese one the body strap popout was attached to the base of the neck - on mine, it's on the body of the guitar. You would have thought these were two ES 335 copies made by totally different companies, which they probably were! I just read that the leading S on my serial number means that it was made for Washburn in a Samick factory in Indonesia.

Anyhow, I made an offer of $100 because I was worried about the odd details and I couldn't get the same tone range from it, and the seller wouldn't take it. And I came home and happily played my tobacco model. So I guess I own a Washburn Oscar Schmidt Delta King OE30 made by Samick in Indonesia! Hello, global economy. Delta King OE30.