What's the deal with this neck's finish?

[MarvinSmithers]

Hello!

I have played 2 years with this 00' American Telecaster and the frets have worn off. My friend played 4 years with it and before that he bought it from UK. It plays well but it needs a new fretjob. But the upper neck looks like this:



Notice that it looks like the finish has been applied after the frets were put on. It's probably not what came out from the factory, right? And also, the body is re-finished. It used to be sparkling blue kind of finish, that I can see under the control plate and neck pocket.

Does anyone know why one should do that? And does it make the re-freting job a lot more difficult?

Thanks,
Marvin.

[KokoTele]

Fender applies their finishes after fretting. That's standard.

Under normal circumstances it's not an issue to refret with the existing finish and a good luthier will be able to do it so that you'd never notice.

In your case, it looks like the finish might be lifting up next to some of those higher frets. That might make it difficult to refret without that loose finish flaking off. It might be doable by wicking some really thin super glue underneath the lifted portions. I've done it on smaller areas made it unnoticeable.

[MarvinSmithers]

Thanks for reply.
I'm very noob on this thread