Workingman

Very mice.  A bit like a fancied up Gretsch sound-hole.  

Well crowned frets also makes a difference.  

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?

Very pretty designs.  What is the function of the rosewood circle behind the sound-hole?

Looking good.

Nicely done.  I would still keep an eye out for problems.  My understanding is the vinyl off-gasses are what cause the problem.  

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.  

Bird in a nest maybe?

Have you considered splitting it into quarters and then sawing it?  Should be easier.  

That is just sick!

As a bass player I am looking forward to this.  

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.  

Very Nice!

Punk rules!

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.  

I have a Pacifica Strat that I upgraded.  The wood on mine is Agathis.  The neck is very nice.  I like it better than my MIM Strat.  

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.  

Hi, doing as well as can be expected in the difficult times.  I will be smoking a pork butt tomorrow if it doesn't rain.  Hope you are well.  

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.  

Green is almost always ground. Not sure on the yellow/brown.

Kay made upright basses with dyed maple fingerboards. They do wear through with time but time can be decades.

Thanks all.

I think you have stepped up to take the responsibility that is yours. He appears to recognize that some is his. If he starts feeling like you should be giving more than you can think about it but unless that happens you have aleardy shown you are a good guy.