...looks like butternut to me......
DAN
www.dulcimore.com
it might be butternut
Just do the "scratch n sniff" test! Slip a piece if coarse sandpaper inside where that deer is, and sand around in underside. If is does not smell of 'root beer', it's not sassafras!
I don't disagree, but I say it's impossible to tell from a photo, even if it were a professional one. I work sassafras albidum nearly every day, it's one of the staples in my shop. It's heavy, only slightly lighter than black cherry (31 lbs per cubic foot, to 35 for cherry). The pore structure, as usual, is the key to positive identification, and if you're a science type person you'll like to see http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141635903000771
If you want, send me your address and I'll mail you a little scrap of S. albidum, so you can compare it yourself.
I just went to Cedar Creek's website, and they list sassafras as an available soundboard wood.
Could be that. Does it seem like dense, heavy wood or is it lighter? Sassafras is relatively soft and light.