Hi, JAC, welcome to the forum. Nice Mustang. I'm using 10s on mine mainly because I lean towards vintage-pure and that was the guage they were manufactured with, but also because 10s give a bit stronger tone and I'm used to the feel. Like you're used to a light touch.
Regarding wood, weight and contours, my Mustang was made in '65 and is all original except for a refin before I bought it. So I stripped it...like most, it turned out to be Poplar...and finished it in Fender Neck Amber.
Poplar is pretty light wood and porous; absorbs paint but also yields to sanding. My best understanding is those first few years of manufacture, bodies were thin slabs, a lot thinner than the reissues anyway. My Mustang is light, just over 7 lbs. As slabs, there were no contours, which I think were added in '69.
The experts say the original Mustangs were mostly Poplar, but some were Mahogany and there's controversy whether some may have beem Ash. I guess Poplar grain & density varies so much that two slabs could have significantly different weights; and Mahogany is pretty heavy; so across all the original Mustangs we have an unusually wide weight range.
You may know all this. Most people in this forum seem to know a lot. Which is why I'm here. 😉 Welcome.
