I recently gave mine to my granddaughter. It has a solid mahogany top and a pickup. I and many owners of them think they sound great plugged or unplugged for the money, light, well made. As with many ukes, the "right" strings help. The previous owner of mine installed Aqulas which were horribly brash on this uke. I installed Hilo low g's and it was awesome. I am sure that many strings other than aquilas would work fine. I've seen used models in like new condition sell well below the $199 asking price of many sellers. For a wonderfully set up on, check out HMS