Re: with all this wood talk, What kinda wood is this?
The Japanese guitars used a lot of Poplar and your piece has some lighter grain in it in some photos which may be the lighting though. Here are some samples of wood grains to help:
My first thought based on the look of it was Alder, nice looking wood grain but I do know a lot of Japanese guitars used Basswood (this one does not look anything like Basswood) and Poplar.
Re: with all this wood talk, What kinda wood is this?
I was going to say basswood just based on it being an earlier MIJ guitar... But that grain is making me think otherwise... Maybe a particularly stripy piece of basswood?
Looks like your dog is licking it. Ask it what it tastes like. LOL
Re: with all this wood talk, What kinda wood is this?
I'm thinking alder as well. I also used to build cabinets, while we didn't use alder we built alot out of poplar and ash, and I did a refinish on an alder guitar about a year ago, and that looks alot more like my alder guitar than ash or poplar.