The original Oscar Schmidt company was based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and was established in the late 1800s by Oscar Schmidt and his son, Walter. The Oscar Schmidt company produced a wide range of stringed instruments and some of the trade names utilized were Stella, Sovereign, and LaScala among others. The company later changed its name to Oscar Schmidt International, and in 1935 or 1936 followed with the Fretted Instrument Manufacturers. After the company went bankrupt, the Harmony Company of Chicago, IL purchased rights to use Oscar Schmidt's trademarks in 1939.
In the late 1970s, the Oscar Schmidt trademark was revived by the Washburn International Company of Illinois. Oscar Schmidt currently offers acoustic, electric, and bass guitars as well as other instruments such as ukuleles and banjos for the beginning student up to the intermediate player In 1999, Oscar Schmidt released a semi-hollow body electric model, the OE30. In 2007, Oscar Schmidt discontinued all production of solidbody electric and hollowbody electrics to focus strictly on acoustic and bluegrass instruments. Source for early information: Tom Wheeler, American Guitars.
Instruments currently built in China. Previously produced in Korea betwee the 1970s and early 2000s. Distributed by U.S. Music Corp. in Buffalo Grove, IL. Oscar Schmidt originally produced guitars in the U.S. between the late 1800s to circa 1939.