CNC-cutting the sides to shape before bending worked surprisingly well. I had left 10mm extra at each end, but that turned out to be unnecessary. The back will have a 3000mm radius and the top will be bent slightly inwards for stability.
Hobby or professional
Hobbyist with a CNC. The stuff I still have to make by hand can look a bit rough. 😅
Do you have a recommendation for a good first luthier project?
For acoustics definitely something modern, where you can get a lot of components like forms (solera, outer form, radius dish), inlays, fretboard, tuners ect. ready-made. Or even a kit, like iamericandre wrote (you'd still need the forms, though). Or maybe a ukulele, because of the much lower material costs.