This is a tricky matter, which I have experienced in another context myself. As a collector I strive to buy as high quality as my means allow. My upright is an all plywood GDR-made instrument without much finesse, but it meant something to me while my hands still allowed me playing it.
Yet my strive has since gone for all solid wood string instruments. 2 years ago I bought an Ovation (not Applause) tenor ukulele from a Hawaiian store, which sold it as having a solid Koa soundboard. Since then an employee of that store in another (web-)context has told that they knew it was laminated koa on top of the cheaper mahogany.
I went furious, but what could I do a year later from the other side of the globe? I stopped playing that instrument because of my hurt sentiments. But only for a while, because I still like its sound.
My lesson from reading ads and comparing them with other information available is, that if the soundboard, sides, and/or back arent told explicitly, by the maker, to be solid wood, then they are laminated.
And I think the reason for the price relation mentioned is that the exotic mahogany in question here like most figured woods, except maybe of some spruce variants, is laminated when used for acoustic string instruments.
I like the looks of spalted maple, but the very phenomenon causing the spalted effect very likely also causes a weakened structure not useable as solid tone-wood.
Klaus
