Mahogany guitars have made a come back in recent years. Back in the early part of the 20th century, Martin's mahogany acoustics were very popular — especially in the smaller sizes. But the spruce-topped dreadnought acoustics took off in the 1930s and 1940s because of their ability to fill bigger live environments louder volume.
Still, mahogany has always had that player/singer/songwriter warmth that is great for just sitting around and playing. Today, solid mahogany models are available from a variety of companies including Carvin, Martin, Taylor and now Yamaha with its $799 FG502M.
Features
The $799 FG-502M's neck, top, back and sides are constructed from solid mahogany. The 20-fret fingerboard is specified as rosewood, but is darker looking — more like ebony.
With a 25.6-inch scale, the Yamaha FG-502M is standard dreadnought sized. The guitar has chrome tuning machines that are enclosed but have the old fashioned large style keys of yesteryear. The plain rosewood bridge with plastic saddle uses the standard plastic pins to hold in the strings.
The guitar is almost austere in its lack of embellishments. The FG-502M has a matte finish (no high gloss here) and, beyond simple fretboard dot markers, there is nothing fancy about its appearance.
The "Yamaha" name, the decoration on the head stock and the trim rings around the sound hole are all decals that do not attract much attention. The binding around the body is plain black plastic with a bit of subtle detailing where it meets the top. The plastic pickguard on the FG-502M is a tasteful tortoise shell design.
The wood quality used in the FG-502M is first rate, with grain that is straight and clean. Interestingly, this Yamaha guitar uses spruce kerfing to attach the sides to the back and top; most guitars use cedar kerfing.
On my test sample, construction tidiness was a bit off for Yamaha's usually impeccable Taiwan factory work.There were small gaps in the kerfing at either side of the tail block, and some glue was visible all along the kerfing. Also, the FG-502M that I reviewed arrived missing a screw from one of its tuners.
The FG-502M is sold in stores with the case extra ($129). The guitar comes with a limited lifetime warranty.
The Audition
In my experience, Yamaha's under $800 spruce top/rosewood body and spruce top/mahogany body Yamaha guitars have a crisp, mid-rangy sound, with some high bass, that is pleasant enough
With its solid mahogany construction, the FG-502M has some crispness and definition, but with added warmness on the bottom. The mid bass is more pronounced, giving it that warm, cozy strumming sound. The no-frills, matte finish allows, I believe, the body to resonate more than heavy gloss finishes of may of todays lower priced acoustics. And the Yamaha certainly has a nice resonance that many under $1,000 guitars don't have.
The FG-502M was good for just about any type of playing that I threw at it. I went from finger picking to strumming, and this guitar maintained its definition, but with the pronounced warm bass. With medium and heavy picks, hard strumming gets you a more compressed sound. This is definitely more of a singer/player guitar for small spaces. It does not articulates as clean when strummed hard.
The guitar's action was low without buzz and the neck felt comfortable. Intonation was dead on through the 12th fret. The guitar, as with most Yamahas I have played, always stayed in tune.
The clean, warm quality of the FG-502M’s sound also came across in recording. I used a dynamic cardioid mic pointed about four inches up the neck from the sound hole and recorded the distinctive sound of this guitar.
Because of the more pronounced mid bass, those who use thicker picks and heavier strings will probably have to roll off the bass to get a clean strummed sound. It is much crisper when using thin picks and phosphor bronze light or extra light strings.
