newbie question - do I sand down the neck joint to fit?

Hi guys, need some advice. Just received my kit, everything is fine except for the neck joint, looks to tall for the body. Question is should this be exact or should I be sanding it down to fit?

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Hi Stephen, welcome to the forum, looks like a tele kit. Is the neck fit very tight in the pocket ?

I would sand the neck pocket edges (vertical faces as the guitar is in the pics) where the heel isn't flush. Do a test fit regularly so you don't oversand.
Make sure the bottom of the neck pocket is free of any wood shavings or high points.

When you drill the neck screw holes the heel will need a light sand too, so it sits flat in the pocket.

Also try and match the shape of the back of the heel to the rounded edges on the pocket, that's probably why there is a small gap at the back of the pocket.

These kits the fingerboard are supposed to be a bit proud.

And the pickguard should slide in under the fretboard lip, so you won't see any gap. Run a straight edge along the fretboard and check its height relative to the bridge saddles if you're concerned how the neck is sitting in the pocket.

Thanks guys, its actuallly a strat type with f hole, its a snug fit now so if i gradually sand her down sthe fretboard should be flush. No scratch plate i wanted a pure timber look guitar different to my les ,paul

Stephen, test the action first before you start sanding the heel down. If you sand the heel down too much (so the fretboard is flush for example) you may need to shim the neck a lot to get a nice low action. A bit of height in the neck pocket means less break angle is required. If you have to shim too much you wont like that look either.

cheers,
Gav.

Hi Stephen, it's definitely a tele body, it has binding and the standard tele huge neck pup cavity. It's probably a thinline tele TL-1TH or if it has a Bigsby tremelo a TL-1TB. You will need a large pickup surround to cover these oversized neck pup cavities if not using a pickguard.
Don't sand down the heel until you have done a mock build with the bridge and check the string action. You will probably find the height of the fingerboard should be about right once it fits snug in the pocket.
Can you please post a pic of the whole body ? If its got a hardtail bridge it's a TL-1TH, I've built one and has an F hole

Its the TLD-1TP model - funnily enough in the Tele section though a strat shape. Anyway I digress, ill attach photos tomorrow as file sizes to big. Having done a mock setup, there are a few questions. The tail piece has a tremolo arm, position it one way the tremolo arm sits above the strings, the other position and it sits between the E & B strings between the tail piece and bridge. When you see photos it will be as clear as mud. The other concern is the P90 pickups sit perfectly in their cavities but theres nothing to hold them in bar the wire meandering through the body. So not sure if they need an additional PU cover. There is no pickguard as i wanted something very different to the LP i own with humbuckers. First test build so we'll see. Next question will be which colour and oil to use. Dont want to lacquer it, wanting a matt wood stained guitar

Hi Stephen. My apologies I wasn't aware of this model.
Looks like a cool kit with the P90 pups.
Will have a look at photos on how to mount the pups

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Hi again, here are the pics. This will show the tail piece and tremolo (I'm assuming it goes this way. Flip it and the tremolo sits at the top of the strings. Also you can see how sweet the P90's sit in their cavity but I'll need to check how to keep them in there as there are no screws etc unless there is a pickup frame I can slot in.

Should be a sweet build once done but yes, a few questions but Im sure i'll be bugging you all :)

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Just thought I'd attach a full view of the entire guitar as the neck angle looks fine once i make the neck joint fit and the other photo, which I didn't notice there is a hole at the front of the pickup cavity