AT LAST, the French Polish has reached the rich depth that I want and I am ready to attach the bridges. Here is the process.
 Most importantly the bridge must be placed in exactly the right place to assure the proper intonation of your ukulele. To avoid errors in measurement I have made this wooden jig that measures between the nut and the saddle exactly. With the bridge in the right place you place blue tape around it's perimeter to mark the place. |  Now we know exactly where the bridge must go. and the tape also holds it in place during the gluing process |
 Now, with the flat edge of a razor blade you scrape away the shellac in the gluing area. Scrape it down to bare wood so the glue can stick. Be very careful to not scrape beyond the margins of the tape. |  I was unable to find bridge clamps that did the job for ukuleles so i made my own from scraps of curly maple. Might as well have pretty tools as ugly ones. With two of these clamps bearing down on rubber erasers over the bridge I am able to glue bridges securely to the top. |
Here we have two concerts with their bridges being attached. Having only two sets of bridge clamps I must wait for tomorrow to glue up the third uke. After about 15 minutes of the glue setting up, I carefully remove the blue tape, and with a thin piece of plastic cut from a credit card, that I place a fold of damp cotton cloth over, I carefully wipe up any "spill out" glue. Then I let the uke set over night to get a good glue job. In the meantime you can begin making the nuts and saddles. The smell of hot bison bone being ground on my sander pervades the workshop. Kind of smells like burning toenails. Not great. but the stringing up can't be far way now.
