I've quite honestly never played an Ovation I liked. And that says it for me. Sorry, Ovation.

Takamines? I've owned 2 or 3 of those. They have a nice pickup system, but often do not sound too good acoustically. Some, though, are fairly nice acoustically. I give them a general rating of, say, 7 out of 10 for a moderately priced guitar.

Yamahas? Absolutely the best all-round guitars in the moderately-priced league. I own a Yamaha that has outlasted just about anything else I ever played. It never fails to meet my expectations. I've played about 50 other Yamahas that were very, very good. Yamaha is the most reliable inexpensive guitar there is, bar none. I love 'em.

Guitars I have owned include: Martin (several, quite nice and/or really great), Takamine (2, I think, both nice), Yamaha (3, absolutely great), Jasmine (1, mediocre), Norman (didn't like it much), Guild (1, very nice), Washburn (2, very nice), Godin Acousticaster (nice), El Degas (cheap, campfire guitar), and a couple of handmade luthier guitars...of those, the present one, a Ron Belanger guitar is, I think, the finest-sounding guitar I have every owned. And it only cost me $1,300 Canadian! Ron is one hell of a fine luthier, and he lives in my hometown of Orillia, Ontario.

Other guitars I've played, and liked, but have not owned:

Larrivee, Collings, Santa Cruz, Bourgeois, and Taylor come to mind. They're all lovely.

I don't usually like Gibsons for some reason, but there is the odd one that I do like.