Tedbelly, I definitely agree about a good set of strings making a big difference in the quality of a guitar's sound—and the matter of how long the strings have been on the guitar. But ". . . put a brand new set of your favourite strings. . . ."
        
Having owned some fifteen different guitars (twelve full-size: seven classics, three flamencos, two steel-strings, plus three travel guitars, two nylon-string, one steel-string), I've changed a lot of strings over the past—ye gawds!!—58 years!

I found that "my favourite strings" didn't sound all that great on all of my guitars. So I had to keep track of which guitar sounded best with which brand and tension of strings.

What you need to do when you get a new guitar is try different strings on it and see how they sound. It might take awhile and cost a bit, but when you find the happy combination, it can make a big difference.

By the way, the strings that come on the guitar new may not be the best for it. Three of my guitars were Martins, one steel-string and two nylon-string classics, all three early 1950s vintage (definitely not crap—that came later). They sold them with Martin strings on them. They were crap! I quickly replaced them with Augustine nylons (in the 1950s) and Black Diamond silk-and-steel for the steel-string 00-18.

Sam Radding, who made my three travel guitars suggested the strings I should use on them. He'd already done the testing! Good man!

Go travel guitars, just in case you're looking for a good travel guitar. They look like the love-child of an unnatural relationship between a guitar and a canoe paddle, but they play well and sound great.

Don Firth