I'm in the camp that believes wood does impart a degree of tone or sonic character to an electric bass. So if your alder Fender equipped with TBird pups is what you're trying to memic then you should probably start with a similar weight Alder TBird body with similar pups. The similar body & neck woods combined with similar electronics and pup placements should get you very close to where you want to be.
That said, mahogany is still my all time favorite body wood, followed by Alder. I hate swamp ash. Mahogany and walnut are not my favorite neck woods. My favorite neck is Rosewood/Rosewood or wenge/wenge.
The paint sample on the paper looks almost cardinal red on my computer. I think Gibson had a color close to that in their 2019 TBird line up.
I'm really fond of red basses, especially if you can see an interesting wood grain underneath. However, I've always leaned more towards the deeper warmer reds (candyapple, black cherry...) vs the pinker or brighter reds (lipstick red, cardinal...). It's a personal preference thing, but I like the finish to have depth when you look into it and highlights when the light glances across it, vs a more monotone neon type finish. Reds with thick thick clear coats always look cool to me as well.
A nice example of woodgrain through a red...
...willkommen!!
