I already had an Ovation steel-string guitar and 4 string bass both of which are 5 stars in my book. I like the Ovation OP-Pro electronics and pickup on all 3 instruments. This 1773-AX-4 is fabulous. As a steel string player most of the time, the neck on this guitar is not as wide as a standard classical guitar, so, it's easy to switch between instruments. And it sounds excellent plugged in, and acoustically, too. I took it to an unplugged jam night recently - there were 4 nylon string guitars there, and all the players wanted to play my Ovation. I wasn't particularly impressed with the strings it came with (I never am) - I like Savarez nylon strings, which lifted the sound from excellent to sublime. It's a joy to play and I love the sound.