tone\construction\materials

I've begun looking at expensive basses and inexpensive basses. I am a man of little funds and I'm trying to do my research to see if I can get the $4000 ken smith\mtd\etc... tone for $400 or any other price that is considerably less.

Obviously pickups would affect the tone most, or at least thats what I believe. THen people talk about body wood.

What I don't understand is... why an alder body\maple neck\rosewood fretboard on a lakland or some other boutique brand would result in a different tone than it would on a fender. If all the electronics and woods used are the same, the bass should in fact sound similar? I understand that no two pieces of woods are identical thus I said "similar" instead of "same".

I understand contruction may be a little more flawed on an SX than it would a ZON, meaning the neck might not fit perfectly in the pocket that is on the body. SO what I have concluded (correct me if I am wrong) is that tone comes from construction or.... Some companies know how to distinguish the perfect piece of alder, maple, etc...


This leads me to the big question. Is alder truly alder? Is maple truly maple? If so the only other differences between these instruments is construction

 

body shape.... well its odd that you say that because bodies on 4strings are often larger than 6 string bodies which also seems odd since a 6 string has less wood in the body (but more on the neck).

The connection of the neck and the body... perhaps. If the neck fits more snug then... how drastic is the change in tone, seriously? If there is a drastic change I'll take the neck out of my bass and get to work shaping it to perfection.

Nut... only affects open strings. even if it affects the tone of fretted notes... Does a $15 bone nut make an instrument go up in value seveal hundred dollars? Doesnt make any sense...