There's a hole in my Mexican J Bass
 

Heya. Just ripped the pickguard off my MIM Fender Jazz Bass a few minutes ago and found a curious dimple in the body just to the left of the neck pickup. Why's that there?

If I had to guess, I'd say it's because the factory makes a stock body, and the hole is there to add a feature that may be present in some models but not in others.

What do you guys think?

Guide hole for the pin router?

No, that is some manufacturing artifact. I think it's for the router guidance? Something like that.

There's no feature on any other model instrument that Fender makes that would make use of this hole in the body.
It is most likely there for the CNC machine to serve as some sort of an indexing feature to allow consistent production.

That makes some sense. Thanks guys/gals

Your bass has a bunghole ... heheheheh ...

folks on this board call that the crater of doom

CNC index hole

Fender puts that hole there to annoy us all, they do it with their American Standards as well. Totally ruining the complete appeal of their sunburst finishes (under the pickguard is where the colors all come together, it's gorgeous) except for that CNC index hole eyesore. Such a shame.

I've got the same hole on my MIM J bass. I would have to agree with Phendyr Loon's explanation.

stash box, of course!:)

Naw,
You can not fit enough in it to make it worth taking out all the screws and then trying to put them back in after you did your stash.

I have this on my 1998 USA tele as well. It's too bad.

Booger stash box??

When I read the title, all I could think of was "...dear Liza, dear Liza...."

It's not a bug, it's a feature. Supposed to be there.

I'm a step away from living with it and taking the guard off my MIA P. I love the look without the guard, except for that dang hole!!

That bass actually does look pretty good w/out the pickguard,, maybe some white pup covers?

depending on what kind of stash we're talking about... in the 60's (and of course in many cases nowadays) that could have come in handy ;)

Also, RIPTOPAZ, wine cork!