@Believer7713 and
@henderman, I have a question that is part curiosity and part devil's advocate. What would it hurt to just leave it alone? I ask this because I have cost myself some amount of time and money over the years fixing trivial issues, that in the broad scheme of things, didn't appear to matter. The money and time came from either fixing my "fixes", or my attempt at fixes created a larger problem. To me, this item is just something that had I not been curious what was under the neck, I would't know, and if the guitar was playing to my satisfaction before I removed the neck, I'd leave well enough alone. But that is just me.
To
@CadillacBob, back in the day, I would have tried to remove the paint. Carefully, to be sure, but there is always a chance of causing another problem in the repair. As a friend of mine told me then, "You just can't leave sleeping dogs lie."; I caused myself some amount of grief because of that inability. However, over time, some of my OCD has self-cured, and "adequate for purpose" became something I could embrace in lieu of "perfect". So, for me, this would be one of those times when I would just put the neck back on. But, I don't do lutherie for a living, and my opinion is worth exactly what you paid for it.
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