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In this position however the curve/join to the rear seems to be a long way up the neck:
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Is this to be expected? It feels too far to me so I was considering attempting to carve it back a bit (I don't have power tools for this kind of work so it would be a wood chisel and lots of manual sanding).
The short answer is yes. There's no problem with shaping that forward portion of the heel so it conforms to the curved end of the pocket.
However, I would not do it with a chisel (but that's just me).
I would use a rasp and/or drum sander followed by hand sanding. The perfect tool for this is a Japanese Saw Rasp, which I've not acquired yet but on my "to get" list.
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Secondly, with the bridge in place it catches the edge of the cavity:
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Again, I was just going to take a bit of material away and sand a bit of slope in but wanted to check I hadn't missed anything first.
First, is it the routing or is that one pivot post too far back? Does the front edge of the bridge plate line up parallel to the bridge route?
If it's the routing, you could sand it back at an angle, but that's bit of a half measure to me.
Doing it with a router or even a Dremel with a sanding drum would be better. It would look neater and have a cavity wall that is perpendicular the top. Having it square that way will allow for full adjustment up and down as required.
If the problem is the pivot post, you will need to plug it with wooden dowel and re-drill it (being careful not drill through the back of the body).