wood I.D. American hardwood

[SwampDonkey]

Your picture is still too fuzzy, but you can see'm in my last one. Barely.

[SwampDonkey]

If it's maple, you should see the "shadows" of the rays come through to the surface as very short chestnut brown marks. Under magnification and good light the shadows aren't there. They will be 1/32" long. It's shadowy because if you look under magnification there is a pit created at the end of the ray coming out of the planed surface. Again it can drive you crazy because it's so tiny. I can't even show it on here, the scanner lights it up so no shadows.

[SwampDonkey]

If there is a way to wet the wood with a little spit, it might bring them rays out better.

[SwampDonkey]

Gibson SG Zoot Suit made with birch 

As far as I can tell maple and alder are the traditional woods of the big names, but further reading reveals there really isn't any advantage. Also, many other species have been used by others. It may be more to do with beta versus VHS.

[tommyb]

Nice guitar, and a nice suit to match! Structurally, birch, alder and maple are all woods that are good to go for guitars. They have to be straight and tight grained for the neck, but that's about it.

The education I've gotten here in the last few days is just amazing.