Thanks Guys.
I actually did take a few "process shots" just in case it all worked out.
Luckily the damage to the top occured between the two tranverse braces. Due to that I was comfortable to remove the damage in the top by using an inlay as it wouldn't affect the active part of the soundboard.
The damage to the side was a result of excessive thinning on my part to remove marks that had formed from too much water during bending. The router bit simply fell through the side during the purfling channel cut.
I enlarged the crack in the waist until the side was in 2 parts. Then, while pressing the side against the bending iron, I levered the broken side off gradually. I use a spanish heel for these ukes and the last part of the side took a little bit of steam to loosen it from the slot, but I only use a dab of glue there so it wasn't hard work getting it free.
Then I made a new side. The meranti I used is fairly plain, so I didn't need to concern myself with trying to find something that looked bookmatched. You can see that my mold has a removable neck area. This has a 'V' template for the end of the sides that I use to cut the exact length and angle for my heel slots (the template was made on the same jig I use to cut the slots, then the end was removed to open up the 'V').
After cleaning up where the old side had been removed, I glued in the new side using the mold as a clamp. With the neck area removed form the mold, the uke neck is free to protrude and the flat areas beside the neck can be clamped to bring the new side and body together perfectly.
You can see how tight the side & body join was. You can also see the pieces of kerfed lining I installed incorrectly into the gap before glueing on the sides. (These were removed and new pieces installed correctly after the side was on)
Next I installed the inlays to the top. I decide to inlay on both sides to give it some balance, even though there wasn't any damage to the treble side. Two things made me go for a non-symmetrical design. Firstly, I felt that a symmetrical inlay would tighten the look of the waist way too much. Secondly, it's harder to get symmetry right! Non-symmetry doesn't require the inlays to be identical.
So with inlay shapes decided & made with that wildly grained meranti, the cavities were routed in the usual way. I glued in the purfling strip with the inlays. The inlays had some overhang so I could remake the binding channel in those 2 areas.
At that point it was finally back to where it had all gone wrong before, but this time I could proceed unhindered.
