Anyone interested in this thread should probably take the time to actually watch the video in question, so here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fxmW-rMz-k&feature=player_embedded
IMO I don't think Gordon was trying to say that dishing should be expected in ukuleles. When he is explaining what dishing is and he picks up a uke to explain, he says "you won't see it on this instrument. It is not seen very often. Certainly very, very rarely on our instruments."
A couple seconds later he says "We want that" but that is in reference to having a light and responsive top... not him saying that we want dishing in instrument tops. Right after that he says that you don't want the instrument to structurally fail.
He then goes on to say how dishing is subjective and qualitative rather than quantitative. When people talk about dishing being a problem it is always "my instrument has excessive dishing" or something like that. I think his point was that it's not scientific i.e. a dish of a certain depth is o.k. but once you go past that depth it is "excessive" it's subjective. For some, slight dishing might be o.k., for others, it might not be o.k. I think he was just making the point that it's not precise.
He then brings up vintage guitars, in which many enthusiasts of those instruments look for dishing as a sign of an instrument that was built light and responsive, and that in the opinion of many, a vintage instrument from that period that does not have dishing was "overbuilt". He was just using this as an example of an idea and perception of dishing that is common. I don't believe he was using it as a justification for dishing being acceptable or anything like that.
He then says that at Mya-Moe they hand voice every instrument and they do attempt to take each instrument to the very edge of responsiveness because they don't want instruments that are overbuilt, but he never says that they endeavor to under build instruments.
In the video he says that IN HIS OPINION a little dishing is o.k. meaning if it was HIS instrument that had a little dishing, HE would be o.k. with it. It's not something that alarms HIM. He says that they rarely see it in their instruments and it does not PERSONALLY bother HIM. Meaning that if it was his instrument, he wouldn't be that alarmed about it. He further says that anything excessive is not acceptable and that they will happily replace any instrument that develops excessive dishing.
The final point he makes is that IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT HE THINKS, it matters what the owner thinks. He will share his opinion on what he thinks is acceptable, but if the owner is not happy, they will do anything and everything (repair or replace) to make the customer happy.