| Fender 60th Anniversary Routing Strangeness...
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Howdy all,
Because I obviously have the best wife in the universe, I found a 60th under the tree for Christmas. I am partial to the early style p-bass, and truth be told I have a man crush on Sting and his bass playing, so that is my preferred bass and style (I know.. a recent change for him, red fretless P bass, Ibanez Musician, Fender jazz, black bean bass, etc...)
Anyway, love the bass... fit and finish are top notch. The grain just comes through the color beautifully, and it seems to be a mash up of all the great things that make a P bass a P bass. The only problem with my Sting Sig - I hate that pickup, even after replacing with an aftermarket. Much prefer the split on the 60th.
To the strangeness... I'm not a black pickguard kind of guy, so I went to all the usual suspects and none had a template yet. So just to let you know Virgil (great guy, btw) over at WD now has a 60th Anniversary template made from my pickguard. Give him an email if you want to make a change. I have three new ones on order... I'll post pics when they come in next week.
While removing mine I found a perfectly round hole about 1 inch by 1 inch routed out Northeast of the pickup about 5 inches out to the bottom horn. There are no drill holes going into the body, it just looks like someone took a circular bit and layed it into the wood about an inch - it was also filled with white power, which I took to be buffing compound. Here are my questions:
1) It is just my body or do all the 60th have that strange circle cut out... a quick check if you have one would be interesting.
2) Could there have been some type of switch intended to be placed there and then dropped during production? The only thing I can think of with a switch in that position is a Gibson Les Paul guitar. Odd spot for a knob or a switch.
3) They just don't want everyone taking off the pickguards and this made it purposefully ugly?
I don't know.Sorry about the long post - I like typing. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Tom | 
