ok it is off. the strat neck is set up for a 25.5 scale and my expolorer is at 24 inche scale. so what i need to do now is to pull out the bridge and the tail peice and studs, then use wooded dowels and filler and then remount the tail stop and the bridge. i might as well remount the pick up location since it seems to be too far up near the neck. if anyone out there has a better way of filling the holes please post a reply.