It's an acoustic, not electric. And the shop says they do free service for instruments bought there, so I'm thinking of taking it back in and getting new strings and make sure it's all set up good. I also know a guy who's a semi-professional guitarist, and he's coming over next weekend to check it out and give me his opinion. I don't expect my instrument to sound as good as the expensive ones. I was just surprised that something so basic as the feelings of the strings would be so different.