I thought the top would be ready to glue on but it seems the bend in the top needs a little more persuading. Here is it with a few handy helpers, only so far you want to go before you hear a crack.
I was not having a great day so I thought I would go out buy a new piece of wood (my version of a new pair of shoes). I found something I never saw before, some imported stairway runners, listed as Acacia wood. There was one that looked interesting but one of the laminations was bent out of shape. They had no price on them, found it was on sale for about $22, I asked how much for the pretzel one.
They said $5 so naturally I went away happy. I originally thought of using it for some rosettes but it might make a fretboard or two. I managed to pull the linearly challenged piece off by hand. I found out Acacia family has Koa and Australian Blackwood in the family.