Hi Dan, nice fathers day prezzy ! Kit looks pretty good. Your plans sound good. Get a sanding block and sand the sides of the neck pocket till the heel fits nice and snug. I recall building this kit (about 3 years ago) and think I had to cut a small notch out of the step in the neck heel for the neck pup to fit. Once you get the neck in place check the scale length, ie distance from crown of 12th fret to bridge saddles should be about 317 ish mm to low E saddle and 314ish to high E saddle. From memory I may have chopped a bit of the bottom part of the heel to move the neck closer to the bridge to get those distances