The "aged" brightwork looks a bit forced and as you mention, might present problems for a beginner. Then again, learning with it to start off with might be easier than learning without then trying to adapt to it.
I was also concerned about shaving the neck like that given that Jazz necks are thinner to start off. Still, they called the bloke a luthier. They didn't show much in the way of neck relief and set-up so I would imagine the "high action" was sorted behind the scenes. At least they showed a fret replacement.
Nice to see this item on such a generalised show.