Gypsy -

There is some hazard in thinking in terms of what a wood does to a guitar when you start the other half of the brain thinking mandolin. The wood will have an effect, certainly; but it's not a "given" that you'll hear the "koa tone" vs the "rosewood tone" to the same extent - or even the same difference in "quality" - as for a guitar.

The A-Style generally tries to get some "action" out of the top, so sticking to good spruce there is probably a "goodness" thing. Because of the very small air volume, the remainder of the "soundbox" is usually made as stiff as possible - to keep all the action in the top. Maple has been the traditional choice, because it's stiff and dense (like many of us mando players?).

Another reason for traditionally chosing maple is that, relative to the amount of material supporting the load in the neck, the mando has much higher neck stress from the total string tension than most larger instruments (guitars). The usual F-style has a fatter neck, and is frequently strung "heavier" than A-style - "in the store," although what people do to them when they get them home is "variable."

If you want to match neck and side woods, with a slightly "softer-than-maple" wood, it can be done, although you may want to consider a re-bar in the neck. Let your luthier decide that one. Some feel that the slot you need for a tension bar takes out more than the bar can put back, when you're working with something as small as a "typical" A-style neck.

Actually, the one of my 3 mandos that I play most often violates all of the above arguments. It apparently has the same plywood on front and back - and to my ear, at least, has a "fuller" tone than my other A-style, which is conventional spruce and maple (and cost about 4x as much).

Sounds like an interesting experiment. As with any new thing, the guy that's making the chips is the one you've got to trust.

John