finishing the body and neck

 I departed from the kit with a few of the parts. The kit comes with a top loader bridge. From what I have read, it's perfectly fine although with everything people entrench themselves in for/against camps. I could have lived with it, but I was interested in stringing the guitar through the body instead of just the bridge. Just seems like there's more stability that way. 

Of course, this meant drilling holes through the body. Always a challenge without good tools like a proper drill press. I ended up making a little jig to guide the holes, but even then I felt like I was doing way too much eyeballing for precise work. And the results show that. I didn't get perfect alignment. I suppose it is close enough and as long as no one is studying my work closely, it will get by. 

So now I'm putting on the bridge and the pickups and adding the tuners. Easy enough work, but as always I realize how much you can't rush anything 

Finished decal work. The uke has a cooler logo but it didn't translate so well on the dark wood. 

This is straightforward enough although I do always hesitate before drilling into the finished wood. For the kit, I just followed the instructions step by step, but now I wonder if it's better to assemble and fit everything first and finish last, as the term 'finish' suggests. 

Adding a bit of wax to the screws before putting them into the hard maple to prevent any horrifying cracking of the wood.