Bizman62

May I be the second! Congrats, the competition was tough but the win is well deserved.

Nail pins are fine, the point is that you have to remove them. Cocktail sticks and side dots can be sawed off while cleaning the fret slots.

Instead of nails, how about using side dot plastic? I recently bought some longer plastic rods, about 20 cm, in various thicknesses starting from 1 mm. They were quite inexpensive. Then again, the shorter (5 cm) ones bought in larger quantities like 200 pcs/colour didn't cost much either.

No, thumbs don't count as fingers in my playing

Oi! Run Capy run! There's a string for a finger on both my hands, I wonder if there's someone who really can play interesting voicings using eight fingers?

If it doesn't rattle and the action is good, no need to fix anything.

Do you mean that the action is on the low side? If so, the fix options are relatively easy. You already mentioned the neck pocket, rerouting it is relatively easy. Even easier would be a shim under the bridge. Setting the bridge pieces high has its benefits as well: The screws don't scrape your wrist! The other veneer below the top veneer is a happy accident! It adds a tad of class to the bevels. Now that you know about it I guess your're tempted to utilize that feature even more... I'm a bit concerned about the neck screws as I don't see any ferrules. Screw caps tend to dig into the wood and even split it especially if they're conical. Even flat bottomed screws would benefit of at least a washer.

Or rather, most likely they'd take it as a feature. I had to think twice until I figured out the reason why that would be easier to manufacture. Yet another tidbit learned!

An acetone based glue like @Prostheta suggested is a good option. However there's differences in the binding materials. The old style stuff melts well but the new stuff not that easily. A good option to glue plastic to wood is Zap/Pacer Formula 560 Canopy Glue. It can be wiped off with a damp rag when it's still wet and it dries clear.

I have no knowledge about engineering, my first occupational studies were about bookkeeping and the last about PC help. But I get what you mean, a small base like the cap spreads pressure to a smaller area than a larger rim or even a washer.

I haven't done much binding so far but now you made me think about it... Some smoothing has most likely to be done if there's any clearcoat over the binding as a sharp edge would be prone to chipping. So that raises the question about the radius to be used for a crisp looking lines - would 1/4 mm be crisp enough yet providing a round enough corner for the clearcoat to be shockproof? Or an even smaller radius? Or perhaps just beveling the binding so that there's no 90 degree edge which would also make the binding look thicker? Ooh, my brain hurts!

For clarification I didn't mean to solely rely on the plywood-and-wedge clamps. However they can be a nice addition. Also, a lot of their pressure depends on several things: How thick is the plywood i,e, does it give in, for the same reason the depth; the angle of the wedges and the method you push the wedges in also matter. Long shallow wedges tightened with a sledgehammer sure do apply a lot of pressure... Another easy to build clamp can be made out of scrap pieces, carriage bolts and wingnuts. Regular hex bolts and nuts would allow using wrenches which should apply any desired pressure. A torque wrench would even allow for using the same pressure everywhere.

Why not make some clamps by yourself? A bunch of plywood C shaped pieces and wedges made out of offcuts are an inexpensive yet effective way.

Bungee cord is also good, it's widely available at hardware stores in various thicknesses. I got some nice lengths from a patio recliner whose canvas was broken. Agreed, it's not as tacky as bare rubber but the wowen cover still holds quite well. Surgical tube is another good option.

Oiling doesn't do any damage and if nothing else it fills the tiniest pores. IMHO oil is a much nicer alternative than grime to fill the grain and pores - no matter how shiny you get your wood there'll always be gaps and grooves. Consider oiling as a proactive step for cleaning!

You've really rubbed your wood shiny there!

Nylon strings are like a rubber band, it takes a whole lot of stretching even for a semitone. That's why you can't bend nylon strings and that's also (partially) why you don't need to slant the bridge. Further, the outermost strings on a uke are the thinnest. As the slanting is done to compensate the thickness (and stiffness) of the strings you can't do it similarly to a steel stringed guitar where you intonate the E strings and slant the bridge accordingly. Individual bridge pieces could be used but most likely the effect would be insignificant.

No matter the style or type, a well built instrument always looks good. This one is no exception to that rule. Outstanding workmanship!

Back at school at the age of 11 or so we built a small "Fortuna" (like pinball without flippers) game at the woodworking class. The board was a bit smaller than the body of a LP guitar. The curved end wall was made out of 3 mm 3 ply Baltic Birch plywood, the hard stuff. But it bent very easily in one direction, cross grain being on both sides. Laminating another similarly cut strip then stabilized the curve. So yes, if you can bend a foot-long strip to a ring it won't prevent anything from cupping that direction.

A lot depends on the wood itself. A veneer will help to an extent but plywood isn't the best option: In a three-ply plywood there can be two layers having the same grain direction with the actual piece! That won't prevent cupping at all since thin (less than 6 mm/1/4") plywood flexes easily cross-grain. A better option is to laminate a thin single veneer so that the grains are crossed. As it seems by the pictures your plywood is almost as thick as the actual piece. Having used the same wood would most likely have counteracted the warping. I'm not 100% sure about your idea of damping and vacuuming. I'd rather try less radical methods first, like putting the piece upside down compared to how it was before on the very same surface. If that helps, the next step is to ensure proper airflow on both sides. That kind of cupping often happens because the open face breathes while the face on the table is air tight. A grille or even some coarse cloth should help.

Fake binding? And you're worried about the dye on the back bleeding? That has been done before and there's tricks to do it relatively easily. One trick is to apply some clearcoat over the binding area. It's much easier to tape for lacquer than for dye. Even nail varnish will do, although using the same product for clearcoat would eliminate compatibility issues.

Nice to hear news about your project, it's been under progress for quite some while now! Unfortunately I can't help you with the electrickery, I just want you to know that you're being followed.

How much misfortune can one man have?

Wow! A Sovjet Shtrato-Cyushter! Is that a 5 pin DIN socket hanging from the last pot? That reminds me of a Sovjet solidbody I saw at a nearby guitar shop some 25 years ago, when the USSR still strongly existed. The Russian border is only 100 km from here and half of that where the shop was so there was quite a many Russian bands playing in dance restaurants - cheaper to hire than local bands... And of course they wanted to buy "real" instruments of at least vaguely known brands with the little money they got. The problem with the guitar was that there was no sound, or at least the shop personnel couldn't get more than a whisper out of it. It may have been faulty, or they just didn't have a proper adapter, or it would have required a strong preamp. I never heard how the story of it ended.

That's an interesting construction! Unfortunately my Spanish is non-existent but for what I could understand the sound is both richer and more pronounced. At least there's no fear for the fret ends popping!