Wow, manXcat - will there be a written exam after that discourse? ;)

Seriously though, thank for all that info!

I owned an F-35 way back when, and I know for sure that mine was fully laminated, including the soundboard. Not a great deal of volume, but also not bad for a mass produced Japanese guitar from the late 70's. I currently have a vintage Sigma Dreadnought (made by Martin) with laminated body and solid soundboard that, not surprisingly, puts out more volume than the F-35 did.

Something you might want to try is replacing the plastic nut and saddle with something more resonant like bone, which is an inexpensive upgrade that you can do yourself with the help of YouTube. That won't necessarily increase the volume but will definitely give it a better overall tone.

I read a number of posts elsewhere from F-35 users who swapped out the thick strings for much thinner 9s or 10s and reportedly found that it improved the overall sound. I don't know though - that's a pretty radical change that would definitely require some truss rod adjustments and TBO I'm not so sure it would pan out in the end. I tried 10s on my Sigma Dreadnought and was unable to adjust the truss rod far enough to accomodate such light strings. Anyways, perhaps something worth trying before you decide to abandon it.

I'll 4th what the other 3 posters have said: There are a lot of decent sounding, new yet inexpensive, solid top Dreadnoughts to be had from many manufacturers. Good luck.

Sascha