After thinking about it some more, I realised I wasn't going to be satisfied using a maple shim. So, I dug out my other spalted LP kit for some comparative measurements to work out what was different with this neck pocket... very enlightening. It turns out that the thickness of the mahogany is identical on both, as is the depth of the neck pocket cut into the mahogany. The difference is that the maple cap on this kit is around 1.5mm thicker at the top of the neck pocket, and it's this difference that is stopping the neck from seating fully.
So, I didn't want to shim it, and sanding that much from the underside of the fretboard overhang would be unwise… that left taking a bit of the maple cap itself. I wouldn't do this if I was just using a finish like Goldenrod, but in this case the black edge of the burst should help to conceal the sanded area. Tough love now for a better result in the long run, I hope.
After lots of carefully sanding and testing, sanding and testing… the neck now seats fully into the pocket. I have only sanded to 120 grit so far, and had to take off more than I'd like, but I think it will work with the finish.
The thin black band of the outer burst, plus the fretboard overhang and the pickup ring should cover all but a small part of the sanded area, and that should blend with the burst transition. But, I guess we'll see how it goes. The neck now sits nicely in the pocket and the angle looks good for the bridge, so I'm pleased with the result.
Time to mark out and re-drill my plugged bridge and tailpiece holes, both to get a better fit and to correct the position of the bass side tailpiece post. It's actually pretty awkward to line up and mark things out on a carved top, so I ended up using an old square protractor so I could reference the centreline. I really had to convince myself that the new position was correct, as it was a big change from the old post hole. The original treble side hole was pretty much correct but the bass side was a couple of mm's further out and back than it should have been.
Check, double check, triple check, mark new position, check again, and again…
Put hardware in position to re-check new position (again) and confirm that everything lines up and looks correct.
Ready to drill! Using a 7/16" brad point with a depth stop to ensure I got the depth right for the bushings.
The results. I still need to clean up the plug remnants, particularly on the bass side tailpiece hole, but the new holes are looking good. The bass side 'hook' of the tailpiece should hide the edge of the plug regardless of how well it blends with the finish on.
I remembered to re-drill/clear the hole for the ground wire.
Final check with the hardware sitting in place… just to convince myself that I didn't stuff it up. Looks ok.
Some of the screw holes for the pickup mounting rings are going to be very close to the edge of the pup routs, so you may notice in the above pic that I've glued pieces of split dowel into the routs to reinforce those points and then shaped/sanded them as needed for fit. The holes for the pots have also been opened up from 8mm to 9.5mm to accommodate the larger pots that I'll be using.
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