What a thread!

Saw this one recently, a design from the 70s/80s where strings were threaded though holes near the nut. He also published a uke instruction book, which many young students used, including James Hill.

https://www.ukulelemag.com/stories/...orthern-ukulele-is-an-icon-of-music-education

Interesting. It works to give some break angle on a straight neck/headstock build. He could've just used a bar across the strings too...something like what Stewmac sells here.
3rd option: Just make a nut and instead of slotting it make holes in it for the strings to pass through. Then the top portion of each hole also holds the string down instead of letting it pop up too high. That's the setup I have on the Bento Box kit from CB Gitty I built an instrument from.
Thanks for sharing. This kind of thing interests me.

Must have been a total pain in the ass to keep tuned. So many angles for the string to go around... Interesting design choice for a student uke.

I've got one, Haven't played it in years. now a wall hanger with the Treholipee. I play that one on Halloween just to be weird. The Treholipee uses a screw down bar before the guide slots and a zero fret all in plastic. Both bodies are built like a hollow core door

I've seen a few of these Northern ukes on Reverb