Test Fit

I did a test fit over the weekend to see if the neck will be compatible with the body. It ended up being pretty close, but there's some work to be done...

As it turns out, the fit's pretty close, but there's a gap between the back of the neck and the top of the neck pocket in the body. It's really hard to see, but the pictures really show the small gap that's there.
The sides also have a bit of a gap, but that's not really much of a problem:

There's also a bit of a gap between the heel of the neck and the bottom of the neck pocket in the body:

I checked the hole alignment between the body and the neck, and as it turns out, the neck needs to be closer to the body by about 1 mm, which is the size of the gap between the heel and the body.
The main reason for the discrepancy is because there's a bit of finish inside the neck pocket. This will need to be sanded out so that the neck can fit correctly:

The most important areas to sand will be the neck pocket surface that contacts the back of the neck and the surface that contacts the heel (the first gap causes the neck to not have a large contact surface, while the second gap is preventing the holes from aligning).

I'm not too worried about the side gaps because I've heard of people whose Strats had cracked finishes/neck pockets due to differing changes in volume of the woods when humidity/temperature changes. Also, it gives a little bit more room for adjusting the neck position once I'm actually ready to screw the neck in for sure.