One of my Japan dreads is lam top, and the other is not. The lam top sounds really good actually, and the wood visible underneath is of suprising good tonewood quality, it's Spruce. To the trained eye, no need to look at the edge of a soundhole to determine it's lam or not, it can even be misleading if well done.
Look at the top from a bit of a distance, you'll see ripples in the top from side to side in places, where the top layer has a visible imprint of the layer underneath it showing. Especially visible after years of drying, shrinking and settling.
On a solid top, the pull of the braces will be more obvious, with none of the lateral striations/rippling from the cross grained layer beneath.
Matsumoku, at one time a subsidiary of Singer Sewing Machine, had extensive cabinetry experience, as well as impressive wood drying facilities.
Realistically, it's much simpler making guitars from solid woods.