Where does the tone come from?

[Scott Pope]

I respectfully disagree. It's the synthesis. Ken's basses sound like Ken's basses because of all the above: the woods, the construction, the electronics, etc. Other manufacturer's basses sound like they do for the same reason. It's synthesis. Over the years I've experimented a lot, and the end results have always been the same: it's the synthesis of the major attributes of the particular manufacturer that make a bass sound as it does.