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  #1  
Old 06-12-2010, 09:45 AM
bfloyd6969 bfloyd6969 is offline
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Default Nato back and sides

Ok, so I've used the search engine to find more about this budget wood - nato. I've come up with a few threads where those say it resembles mahogany in tone, which is what I was to believe as well. So I've got my first nato back and sides guitar (which is still in question - it is a Tak EG430S Korean made guitar, and some sites read nato and other sites read mahogany, the latter coming from the Tak site itself. Still, I feel strong that at this price point that it could very well be nato). Still, with that set aside, has nato ever been considered as a solid back and sides tonewood for an alternative, budget friendly, all solid wood guitar? If not, then why? Is nato just a bad choice for a solid b/s wood construction?
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Old 06-12-2010, 01:28 PM
Cue Zephyr Cue Zephyr is offline
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It is a type of mahogany, just like sapele. I did not discover this until I read up on the Taylor guitars website. Pretty sure there is a thread around here that explains about nato being a type of mahogany. I'm not really sure which thread it was, though.
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Old 06-12-2010, 01:32 PM
gitnoob gitnoob is offline
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Are you sure the back and sides are solid? Most G-series are laminated.
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Old 06-12-2010, 01:39 PM
Fatstrat Fatstrat is offline
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NATO = Not A Tree Originally. I don't care what they say. IMO doesn't look like wood, doesn't feel like wood, doesn't sound like wood. Just say NO to NATO.
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Old 06-12-2010, 01:50 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Nato (pronounced "natto," not like the acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is a genuine species of real wood that's used mainly for laminated backs and sides in Yamaha guitars and other brands of instruments built mainly in Asia. I asked about it to a guitar builder friend who told me that it's an okay tonewood when used on its own as a solid wood in guitar-building, but that it's nothing terribly special, either, and there really isn't much motivation to build using it.


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Old 06-12-2010, 02:03 PM
Coke_zero Coke_zero is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fatstrat View Post
NATO = Not A Tree Originally. I don't care what they say. IMO doesn't look like wood, doesn't feel like wood, doesn't sound like wood. Just say NO to NATO.
I have to disagree about the sound. I have a Yamaha with nato back and sides, sounds great.
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Old 06-12-2010, 02:27 PM
Weird Snake Joe Weird Snake Joe is offline
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It's not bad. Kind of like cherry in its lack of flash or pizazz in terms of tone when used as back and sides material.
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Old 06-12-2010, 02:40 PM
bfloyd6969 bfloyd6969 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gitnoob View Post
Are you sure the back and sides are solid? Most G-series are laminated.
No, it's laminated - I wasn't as clear as I should have been in the original post. I was curious to know how this wood would be as a solid back and sides as well.

It definately looks like a wood species to me. Here's a pic of the said guitar back:


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Old 06-12-2010, 03:18 PM
Les Tension Les Tension is offline
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I got a Jasmine S34C for a ridiculous price off of Ebay. Has said Nato neck, back and sides. Sounded good enough that I installed a Martin thin-line PU, Schaller tuners, Tusq saddle and cut a sound port. Great for weekends on my sailboat.
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Old 06-12-2010, 04:10 PM
PRone BL PRone BL is offline
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mora_%28plant%29
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Old 06-12-2010, 04:15 PM
Zigeuner Zigeuner is offline
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I think Nato is another name for what I've heard called Phillipine mahogany. It's used widely in laminated guitars. There's nothing wrong with it. It's just not quarter-sawn Brazilian rosewood. LOL.


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Old 09-16-2010, 08:05 PM
merc merc is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Les Tension View Post
I got a Jasmine S34C for a ridiculous price off of Ebay. Has said Nato neck, back and sides. Sounded good enough that I installed a Martin thin-line PU, Schaller tuners, Tusq saddle and cut a sound port. Great for weekends on my sailboat.
Any pics? I also have a Jasmine S34C.
I was going to ask how to lower the action. It doesn't seem to be an allen head on the neck rod.
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Old 09-16-2010, 08:08 PM
scooter74 scooter74 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fatstrat View Post
NATO = Not A Tree Originally.
My favorite response.
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Old 09-16-2010, 08:18 PM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zigeuner View Post
I think Nato is another name for what I've heard called Phillipine mahogany. It's used widely in laminated guitars.
No, not unless nato is a "common name" that gets applied to a number of different species of trees.

So-called "Philippine mahogany" is luan, which is a considerably lower quality wood than nato is.

I worked for a couple of years in a touristy store in Crown Center in Kansas City playing and selling mountain dulcimers and kits for them, mostly made from luan. The better quality kits and instruments had genuine solid walnut and spruce vibrating plates, but probably 90% of what I sold was made from luan.

It's not something I'm proud of...I mean, I liked the job at the time, mainly because I was getting paid to stand around and play dulcimer and other instruments and talk to people all day long, both of which tasks I'm pretty good at.

But I suspect that - if the Roman Catholic Church is correct and there IS a Purgatory - I'm likely to spend ten or twenty thousand years in Purgatory for having sold so many crappy luan dulcimer kits to so many nice, unsuspecting people.

Luan is trashwood, at least so far as musical instrument construction is concerned. Nato is not.


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Old 09-16-2010, 08:36 PM
johnnysain johnnysain is offline
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Nato sides/back on my Yamaha FG 720,...no complaints here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nato_wood

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/document?doc_id=99234

Nato, also known as Eastern mahogany, has a warm resonance, is very strong, and is often used in the necks of less expensive electric guitars because it's not as costly as mahogany.

Last edited by johnnysain; 09-16-2010 at 08:47 PM.
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