New (to me) wood types

[quiksilver]

I've been seeing some terminology thrown around that is new to me, particularly with reference to low end guitars. What do these terms mean?

Nato (i.e., "nato mahogany")
Chesswood (BC Rich advertises this)
Agathis (I think this is a kind of tropical pine, not sure)
Sapele (some Taylors are partially made of this)

Are these just fancy terms for laminate or plywood, or are these legitimate woods?

Thanks.

[Number Of The Priest]

Re: New (to me) wood types

I've also heard of nato, chesswood, and agathis being used on lower end guitars, but sapele is somewhat common to the acoustic guitar world, as you said with Taylor, and also Garrison Guitars uses them on their G-40, G-41 (top/back/sides made entirely of sapele), and G-4 series, which are all just one step down from their flagship top-of-the-line G-50 series.

[JimmyApollo]

Re: New (to me) wood types

Originally posted by quiksilver:
I've been seeing some terminology thrown around that is new to me, particularly with reference to low end guitars. What do these terms mean?

Nato (i.e., "nato mahogany")
Chesswood (BC Rich advertises this)
Agathis (I think this is a kind of tropical pine, not sure)
Sapele (some Taylors are partially made of this)

Are these just fancy terms for laminate or plywood, or are these legitimate woods?

Thanks.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think nato is a composite material as used by Martin on a lot of their lower-end guitars. It's usually cast with a wood grain-like finish, hence "mahogony."

Chesswood is an Asian hardwood, something akin to alder at least in sound.

Agathis is a type of pine found in the Western Pacific.

Sapele is a West African tree somewhat similar to mahogony, but is harder.

[etaeniura]

Re: New (to me) wood types

As Far as I know, NATO is a mahogany type wood used in acoustic guitars for backs and sides. The stuff martin uses in their lower end guitar is called HPL (high pressure laminate) and is the stuff made to look like real wood.

[JimmyApollo]

Re: New (to me) wood types

You're probably right - I thought they were the same thing.

[quiksilver]

Re: New (to me) wood types

Thanks for the info. I should've added "Dao" too.

[Inazone]

Re: New (to me) wood types

Ibanez is or was using sapele instead of maple for some of their transparent tops.