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Am building the StewMac dreadnought kit and while trying to remove the neckblock in order to re-attach it more squarely and with lesser of a gap at the seam, I rushed things a little with the putty knife when trying to loosen the glue with the heat lamp (their recommended method for loosening the glue) and split the wood about 2" right along the grain, approximately 1 1/4" below what will be the top of the top of the tailblock (see attached photo). When I press it back down against the block, it's barely noticable, although I realize that once the neck is attached later, this crack will still extend approximately 1" beyond the edge of the finished neck, but thank goodness below it rather than above it where any imperfection would be more noticeable.

My questions, 1) should I start over and order new sides and back (apparently StewMac provides them as matches)? Seems like overkill and expensive, if I can properly repair it cosmetically in such a way that only I know it's there as a painful lesson learned from my first build experience, and 2) recommended repair method at this point?

That is a clean break and next time, use a clothes iron, the heat lamp is too slow. With the sides off the block, clean off the old glue , then align the edges of the crack and wick super glue into it. Allow to dry and scrape or sand off the surface glue.
This video demonstrates the process:

Thanks John, you're the man and you're right on top of these forum requests! I was afraid the iron was gonna scorch the guitar, how exactly do you do that, actually touch the wood surface or get it close or what? By the way, I realized almost the instant I hit the submit button on my original post that in fact the crack is above instead of below the neck when playing.

Iron directly on the wood, just keep it moving. (and clean it before the wife sees)

BTW, the gap is probably a non-issue, but you do want the top square.

what darren said