Like the rest of the plane, I figured Van's might actually know something about the correct length of the sticks. So, the top of my wood grips comes to the same height as the uncut stick. This required the stick lenght be reduced by about 2.5", if memory serves.
This seems to work out very fine. In flight I hold the stick down low but upon landing, I hold it at the grip. This helps keep me from over controlling the plane as it takes more movement to defelect a control surface.
Van has written about this before, check the back issues of the RVator.