Oscar Schmidt OU2E concert size - Review

I'm a bit of a techno-dummie so if I can do it properly I will paste the link for my You-tube video review here so there wont be quite so much writing. So, I got to my better halfs the other day and she had ordered me this Oscar Schmidt OU2E!! What a diamond! Its a laminate instrument, laminate mahogany to be precise. My first impressions were that the finish looked very nice. Not perfect, there were one or two little imperfections, rough edges and such but for the money, its more than good enough. As I said, its all laminate mahogany, including the neck. The fingerboard and bridge are made of rosewood and it comes with GHS strings (I dont personally care for them so I changed them to Aquila's which to my ears, improved the sound considerably) It has closed geared tuners and as the E in the model name suggests, it is an electro acoustic and has an active pick-up system. The pick up also has a recessed groove, if you like which doubles up as a place to attach a strap, I attached my old guitar strap which works very nicely. Aesthetically I would give this instrument 8/10. I was extremely impressed given its price, $88, which was about £57. Really cheap. The shipping costs did bump that price up a bit as she shipped across the pond but all things considered, that wasn't even all that costly or problematic. The sound, in my opinion is where this instrument really excels in my opinion, again, relative to the cost, its nice and warm sounding with really good note seperation and excellent sustain. I think it really suits the low G too and sounds great amplified.I'd give it 8/10 in the sound department also. It came with a nice little fitted brown and cream gigbag and a lifetime warranty! Which by the way, in my opinion says quite alot about the brand. Overall, I would really recommend the Oscar Schmidt OU2E concert. Overall rating 8/10. Underneath is the link for my video review with acoustic and amplified sound sample.

http://youtu.be/GWafk7LHmBQ

So I just recently acquired one of these OU2Es as well. I'd like to give a slightly different perspective on this review. I'd like to give my overall rating and then a rating for the value:

Aesthetics: 6/10 - Nothing too special. Laminate mahogany looks nice enough. Agree with the rough edges and slight imperfections. I'm also not a big fan of the way the logo appears cheaply painted onto the headstock (it kind of bled into the wood grain).
Aesthetics/Value: 8/10 - Again nothing too special, but considering the price, looks very good. I spent $70 on mine and it looks a bit more expensive than that.

Strings: 3/10 - Changed em to Aquilas just like Paulie. It's a good move, drastically improving the sound.
Strings/Value: Who cares, the Aquilas sound just find. I threw the garbage they came with away.

Sound: 5/10 - In comparison to other ukes that I own or have played, this is an average sounding uke. Nothing too special. It obviouslt sounds much better with the Aquilas, but still doesn't compare to my Kala.
Sound/Value: 9/10 - For what I payed for this little guy, it sounds incredible.

Overall Rating: 5/10 - an average uke. There's much better out there and there's much worse.
Value Rating: 9/10 - fantastic value for what you pay.

Miscellaneous: I bought the older model of this uke. Therefore, I got shafted in the active pickup department. The older versions of this model do not have an easy way to change the battery. You have to options to do this. 1.) unscrew the pickup from the outside and pull it out, and then screw it back in after the battery replacement.. or 2.) loosen all the strings, or remove them completely, and attempt to blindly move your hand around in through the sound hole attempting to get the battery to snap into place. Neither are great options but it is what it is. It's a bad design. The newer versions have easier pickups work with, and they don't cost much (any?) more.

Disclaimer: Although this is the same model as the one in Paulie's review, I have the older version and I believe he has the newer version. Some of my complaints (such as my gripe with the logo) might have been altered in the newer version. I'm not trying to dispute Paulie's opinion (that's why it is an opinion), but rather provide a different perspective, especially for those who might not realize there are 2 version of this uke model. You can tell the difference in pictures by the location of the pickup. Older model has the pickup on the front hump (toward the neck) of the body, and the newer model has the pickup on the back hump.

Uke on gentlemen!

Every Oscar Schmidt I've ever played has had great action and playability. The intonation and tonal qualities are consistently very good, (in my opinion far better than anything in comparable price ranges), and they are unbelievably inexpensive. I consider Oscar Schmidt the very best value in the industry and feel they are sadly overlooked here, on Ukulele Underground.

Quite right, a different perspective is always a good thing! You are right thjough, I do have the newer version and no I dont believe they cost any more. i think OS maybe had some quality issues in the past but I agree with stevepetergal that the qualiy is really good for the money. Mine has a lovely tone. The issues with the pick-up have, as bchagnon quite rightly said, now been addressed and the battery is a simple 5 second job to replace. The logo hasn't bled into the wood on mine either although I should say that I haven't had it long and should this change, I will amend to this effect. Thanks for the comments and for taking the time to check out my review guys, appreciated. Aloha!!

My first two ukus were Oscar Schmidts, this one and the all curly koa (laminate) one with all the fancy inlays. As, previously stated both had perfect action/intonation, practically played themselves when you held them. Another great thing is the geared guitar tuners (Grovers?) tune up and hold pitch so easily. I really think they are a great starter for all these reasons, the price, and the lifetime guarantee. However, the curly koa was very beautiful and even with all that great and easy playability it kinda fell short in the tone/volume category (another good feature for beginners?). Anyway, the electric one, at an even lower price, was much better sounding acoustically (not the best but still very good) and you could plug it in too.
I think probably all Oscar Schmidt ukus are great starters because of the ease of playability and tuning, especially for the price. I think I also payed $88 for mine almost 8 years ago!