Press to fit

When I bend my one piece sides by hand I often get the curvature a bit aggressive at the neck end. The ends should ideally have a straight couple of centimeters but typically the preceding radius goes on. This makes it difficult to glue the neck block. 

If I shape the mating side of the block to meet the mis-shaped ends it works but then I don't get the flat spot on the outside. I aim for flat since the 12th fret is at the joint. And sanding the outside risks going through the sides. 

So, did you get all that? There will be questions afterwards. 

Straightening the ends on the hot pipe is hard because I don't get any leverage. So I sandwiched the sides between some flat scrap pieces, steel flashing and my heat blanket. After five minutes everything looked wonderfully machine made.