Then I checked a bunch of photos online of Tele fretboards, and they all looked like they were the same as the LPJ (though to be honest it's bloody hard to see -- photos of the sides of fretboards are surprisingly hard to find!). That, plus some vaguely-remembered Crimson Guitars videos had made me think that it was always visible-tang or bound.
That's interesting. Of the 11 unbound neck guitars I own (a mix of production and built by me) none of them have exposed tangs. They consist of both rosewood and maple fretboards and include 1 acoustic and 1 bass.
Also none of the necks are scratch built. They were all factory manufactured.


Any chance your LPJ was been re-fretted?


And, yes, those tiles would give seizures if I had to look at them for too long...