These are so remarkable. The design is so much not my cup of tea but they are so gorgeous. . My tastes have changed to where anything that is that well crafted just gets me.
If you go to the forums at mandolincafe.com you will find a decent number of people have built these. Did you ask if he was going to use Greek or Irish tuning?
The construction appears to be close to that of a bowl back mandolin without the cant in the top. I would suggest asking at The Mandolin Cafe https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/
Good group of people.
Very impressive, particularly the bridge. You may want to keep an eye on where the aluminum and copper meet. I don't know if there is enough current for galvanic corrosion.
I am watching this with pleasure and inspiration. Most of my tools were stolen a few years ago but I too have been itching to build. If you can do it so can I......maybe.
This is a great build thread. BTW, truss rods are fairly easy to make. A friend uses welding rod, bends 1/2" of one end 90 degrees to stop it from rotating and threads the other end.
I experimented with piezo film for upright bass pickups. It is only a few mils thick and could go under a bridge plate. I tried it on a solid body electric and it worked well. The tiny connections are a pain to solder without damaging the piezo though.
To repair that properly I think you wold have to take the top off. I have helped repair a puncture wound like that on an upright bass. Keep the area protected to keep it clean until you can repair it. Hot hide glue is your fried here.
In addition to making it hard, and thus dangerous, to control the router, it could cause the router bit to fracture throwing off a sharp piece of metal at high speeds. This could also happen when using a power saw.