What does "NATO" mean in regards to a guitar neck

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Dllacy

The Yamaha FG700S is an all solid wood guitar, top Sitka Spruce, back, sides, and neck, Solid Nato.

Incorrect; only the top is solid spruce. The back and sides are laminated nato.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkdMAgCaxvU

[woodbox]

THANK YOU bbasile777
for taking the time to provide a very comprehensive answer to darylcrisps really good question.

It appears you don't post often over the many years you have been a member, but what a gem you gave us all this time. (on page 2, if someone just tuned in)
I've been around guitars for almost 50 years, and I just learned a couple new things. I love that!

Thanks bbasile777
You have exhibited the spirit of AGF perfectly.

[Jim.S]

Originally Posted by Herb Hunter

Current Name: Chrysophyllum spp.
Common Names
nyatoh, v[us] s[uwx]a, masang, white nato, nato, pepulut, nyatuh, chrysophyllum, padang,


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Current Name: Diploknema sp.
Common Names
nyatoh, nato, red nato, masang, padang, nyatuh,

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Current Name: Palaquium luzoniense
Common Names
dolitan, gasatan, nato,

You could also add Mora Excelsa to that list Herb

[Fred Watson]

Plumgit, msg #17
Herb Hunter, msg #18
Poetmonk, msg #19

All good posts! Thanks for holding up the spirit of the forum.

[Denny B]

Threads like this are why I enjoy this forum so much...I'm a total novice at guitar, and every day I learn something new (to me)...

[Captaincranky]

OK. First I believe that "nato" and "nyatoh", may simply be different phonetic takes on the same wood.

My second point is, luthiers are not the only people in the world to use nato, or mahogany. So, it isn't a bad idea to research how cabinet makers find the differences in working properties of the two materials. In my research, I found that genuine mahogany is considered a bit easier to deal with. EG. it doesn't chip or split as easily. Other than that, the woods appear similar. Stability wasn't an issue at the forefront of the discussion.

Anecdotally, maple and birch appear very similar, to the point of having almost the same hardness and density. Supposedly, birch is almost worthless for turning, while maple makes the most wonderful white chess pieces you can imagine. (Albeit having to sharpen the tools every few minutes).

As for sound qualities, "beauty is to the ear of the beholder".

Other woods have been, over the years, have been "erroneously", or perhaps "conveniently", referred to as "mahogany" over the years. "Luan" is a prime example. It's often called "Philippine mahogany".

"Sapele", is in the mahogany, "family". Unfortunately, the biological classification "family", is much broader than human convention. It over-arches species and genus. So, while any numbers of plant life might be related to true mahogany, it likely wouldn't breed with true mahogany, nor would that be desirable, as some of the plants in the "mahogany family", are little more than ground cover. Good luck making a guitar out of them.

So, no nato is not mahogany, nor is it related to mahogany. Does that matter? Probably not. Mankind has killed off the majority of true mahogany species. So, we're at the point where we have to use what's available, at something less than a king's ransom.

As far as committing yourself to ,"great weeping and gnashing of teeth over it", you time is better spent elsewhere...

[Dllacy]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

Incorrect; only the top is solid spruce. The back and sides are laminated nato.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkdMAgCaxvU

My mistake, bad typing.

[ocmcook]

i think nato is some kind of treaty we signed years ago, but i could be wrong.

[Captaincranky]

Originally Posted by ocmcook

i think nato is some kind of treaty we signed years ago, but i could be wrong.

I'll pretend I didn't get the joke and say, "well nato the wood is in lower case letters, and "NATO" is always all uppercase, since it's an acronym". In fact, even Firefox' spell checker knows that, because it underlines, 'nato', whereas, "NATO", comes out fine and dandy, not a red squiggle to be seen..


Note to self; one of these days add, 'nato' to dictionary, along with 'nyatoh'.

[rumble]

Yamaha has and still uses nato on a number of there guitars,primarily necks. To me they seem a bit more dense than mahogany necks on a number of Yamaha's I own . Tone wise ,I'll stab at it and suggest the tone is a little brighter ,more focused on my nato neck yamies.