This is one of the stages of building which gives me satisfaction. When I fit the shaped sides into the slots in the neck it starts to look like a guitar. There is still an awful lot of work to do but if feels like progress. Also, as I have often stated, bending the sides is one of my favourite tasks in the workshop. Except when you get a set of sides which will not bend no matter what you do. I don’t know how to recognise those beforehand but I would sure like to be able to. Below is and example; this just happened last week. A break can happen at the waist if you are inexperienced or in a rush but this sort of thing on a larger radius bend is surely due to a quality of the wood which just makes it impossible. Having your sides too thick can cause problems too but these were 1,6 mm so it’s not that either.