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Hello again everyone,
I got busy for a while and now am back at my stewmac 000 build. I am doing an initial fit-up with the bolt on neck with some photos below. Right now without any modification the neck bolts in with the tenon about .020' proud of the top. (see in photos). I also took some with a straight edge along the neck to show the relationship as well.

Now, I now that I will need to do tenon shaping for the final neck fit/angle, BUT:

a. do I need to do anything now before gluing on the fretboard? Is this close enough or should I get that tenon flush with the top now before glueing on the fretboard?
b. If so, do I just sand the top of the neck and tenon down until flush? I cant take any off the bottom because the bolt-on has it fixed at this height.

Thanks for any insight.

You should be fine to trim the bottom of the tenon and enlarge the bolt holes in the neckblock.

Do not sand the top of the neck - you need this straight and inline with your neck angle.

darren wrote:You should be fine to trim the bottom of the tenon and enlarge the bolt holes in the neckblock.

Do not sand the top of the neck - you need this straight and inline with your neck angle.

That's the ticket.

use the flat side of the neck gauge
I find that gauge by stew mac a useless tool and I will tell you why
The fretboard should be trued , once trued you fret the board. I personally started to fret the board on the neck for a better and more true fret plane. Since the fret plane is not on the fretboard , there is nothing that the gauge can usefully tell you that a good straight edge can't .
A straight edge is more useful , this allows you to see the plane of the frets. Having the notches won't give you a true read. Like many I purchased many tools that now decorate my tool box.

Thanks everyone.
The notched-straight edge is quite true when checked against a polished marble surface so I am not to concerned about that. I will invest in a good straight edge though as recommended.

I just used it to show that the tenon AND neck is slighty proud of the body during the initial bolt-up. I realize that I will need to do final neck fitting/cheek adjustment after the fretboard is glued on.

FWIW. I SLIGHTLY enlarged the bolt holes and sanded a tiny amount from the bottom of the tenon so now the neck surface and tenon top are flush. I will glue the neck, then do the cheek shaping to get my correct angle. Good?