Can someone please tell me what these spots are from? Is it finish cracking? Air bubbles?

And is this a problem? It doesn't affect playability but I'm wondering if this defect will harm the neck in the long run. I recently purchased this guitar from GC used who did not mention it. Is it a big deal? Thanks!

It looks like the finish is lifting. How does it feel to the touch? Hard for me to say from a photo. Does it feel as though the finish is gone or a bubble if you apply pressure to it? It could be where glue had been on the wood and wiped off. I'd have to feel it and inspect in person. Good luck!

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Some type of molecular reaction is causing the finish coat to de-bond from the wood.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

A perfect diagnosis.

The fact that it is just on the walnut stripe rather than the maple suggests it might be to do with the slightly "oily" nature of that wood which has failed to take the lacquer properly on this occasion, though I think Mr Hopkins' glue traces hypothesis is convincing. Perhaps someone just wasn't quite as careful prepping the timber on this neck as they should have been: lacquer normally goes onto walnut perfectly well with only the normal sanding and de-greasing operations done on it.

We more often see this problem on the black plastic dot markers on maple fingerboards. If it is out of warranty there is nothing much to be done about it unless you want the hassle of re-finning it. Which is perfectly possible, of course.

And I'm not sure if it would apply to this situation but guitar finish issues are normally specifically excluded from the maker's warranty. You'd have to check with Customer Services about that, if the guitar is less than a year old.

On the plus side, it is unlikely to hurt the playability of the instrument in the slightest.

Cheers - C

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Thanks for the thoughts, gents. If I was being picky I would say that the stripe itself seems possibly a little more raised than the maple neck. Though, the white spots themselves don't appear to be bubbly.

The neck is stamped "Hector Montes," a luthier in FCS who crafted the earliest EC Strat necks. Either way, this guitar is 22 years old so I'm not that concerned. It doesn't affect playability. If it's not a stability concern than I'm not really bothered with it. I don't plan to ever sell the guitar.

Fender had a problem with this around the early 90's. The lacquer finishes were not adhering properly on the maple necked guitars. It was particularly bad if the guitars were prone to damp conditions. They didn't admit to this back then but the problem was resolved later. If your guitar is 22 years old and stored in the right conditions it should be OK now.

I have that on my 4 month old highway one in only one spot and I can feel the uneveness but the guy who was the warrantee guy said it was not a warrantee issue, (so I'm SOL) he photo'd it on his cell phone and sent it to Fender. Nothing. I am very disappointed in a new guitar. I have an American Special 1 year old and no problem.