MIMF

Glad you got a solution. You need to leave a small space between the end of the tenon and the mortise. If it has been bottoming out them the temptation is to crank on the bolts to try to get the heel to sit flush. Looking at the amount of denting on the bindings at the soundboard I think the bolts have been cranked up way too high. Bob

I can safely say some lessons were learned... Side note - these furniture bolts were invented by places like Ikea. You know how they always give you that little allen wrench that is a stupid small size? Cleverly engineered so even a ham-fisted man can't actually do a lot of damage over-torquing the bolts - the wrench hurts your fingers first!