I am planning on building a bass with my local luthier, thinking about Fodera Monarch shape or Pedulla MVP.

There's a pile of mahogany, koa, body core wood and how in the h*ll do you pick a tone wood from the pile.

How can other luthier tell if that wood will be a good tone wood and how do luthier grade their wood from mediocre to "master grade?"

I read michael tobias's little essay and there's a rough guideline regarding weight, color, age, etc. But how do luthier guess the tone of the wood before the bass itself exist?:confused:

You'll probably get a better response on the Luthier's side...

Thank you Ken Smith Basses for you time and the tip. Yes, I've read your webpage a dozen time, and I also read mike tobias's webpage.

So rather than worrying about the tone wood, I'll just pick the ones I like, maybe just according to the weight and color just as Mike Tobias said in his website.

I'd add that it's probably a good bet to trust your luthier's instincts on this. If you trust him/her to build your dream bass, trust his/her wood choices:

And you know, we Luthiers are a trustworthy lot... in every bass we install 'trust' rods!

with moderate chortling............

Karl Hoyt