i got a little problem. building up a charge duster with maverick sc32s and the steerer is a bit short. there is 23mm between top of steerer and stem. would getting a lower stack headset (my s3 is 27mm) and lower stack stem (my current one is 40mm). or would i have to get some different forks

waves

if you mean the steerer is only 23mm longer than the head tube then no go – 23mm isn’t enough.

Even if you only have 23mm after the headset is in place I think there’s no stem short enough.

Crank Bros headsets have the lowest stack height for an external cup headset that I am aware of. You probably want the stainless version as I’ve heard that the regular ones rust quickly.

Ragley Stubbing stem as suggested above.

I added a Works Components 1 degree headset to my bike. It had a larger stack height than the original hheadset and as I had the stem slammed, there were no spacers to play with either. I’ll bet my steerer is about 7 mm below the top of the stem. I did use carbon paste to help the grip a little. I haven’t died yet…

HTH.