After studying the factory samples for days, I finally figured out why they were 1 mm shorter than the models. The factory installed the neck plug wrong and ground off the little socket the ball of the neck rests on. Its things like this that can send you into a tailspin and start chasing issues that aren’t there. The engineer said they were easier to assemble this way. ARGGGGH. Don’t get creative. The samples are finally signed off and I got this picture today, so now everyone understands how things are assembled. – Jason