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There is a hole in Bass!

#23
kohntarkosz said:
Videos on youtube of the Ensenada plant suggest that the CNC machines don't need this as an anchor point. There is also video of a Strat body being cut out from a bigger blank that is bolted down.

I wager Fender put it in there to denote MIM bodies. If you buy an American Special bass they will put an "American Special" decal under the finish on the back of the neck. I would imagine they loath the idea of their parts being upsold as something they aren't. Imagine if you couldn't discern between a MIM and MIA body... at least we all know the MIM bodies have the wee circular route under the pickguard! It is easier to identify a body this way; especially when Strat bodies, for example, all look much the same regardless of model.
Click to expand...


I'm sure you're right. There's no other sensible explanation. There's no mechanical need to rout out such a gigantic hole. I suspect that those who claim it's a CNC "locating hole" don't understand the CNC process.
 
#25
kohntarkosz said:
Videos on youtube of the Ensenada plant suggest that the CNC machines don't need this as an anchor point. There is also video of a Strat body being cut out from a bigger blank that is bolted down.

I wager Fender put it in there to denote MIM bodies. If you buy an American Special bass they will put an "American Special" decal under the finish on the back of the neck. I would imagine they loath the idea of their parts being upsold as something they aren't. Imagine if you couldn't discern between a MIM and MIA body... at least we all know the MIM bodies have the wee circular route under the pickguard! It is easier to identify a body this way; especially when Strat bodies, for example, all look much the same regardless of model.
Click to expand...

My American Standard Strat has a hole under the pickguard.

I think similar holes started showing up in the '70s some time.
 
#27
landau roof said:
My American Standard Strat has a hole under the pickguard.

I think similar holes started showing up in the '70s some time.
Click to expand...

This thread clears things up, by muddying the water.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/routing-fender-jazz-bass-bodies-962524/

Note the use, on and off, of a 'swimming pool' route for the neck pickup on those bodies. The MIM Classic 60s body is routed to fir the pickup, whereas a MIM standard isn't, and has the universal route.

The mystery hole is there on the MIM basses, but not on the Squier CV body. This suggests it isn't the necessary bi-product of CNC routing, as it would be on the cheaper Squier models. They can even turn out those Jaco-style fretless Squiers with the fitted neck pickup route... what does this all mean? Some thoughts. I'm not trying to push a certain argument but thinking aloud here.

1) The CNC machines are older/cheaper in the Mexico plant and somehow attach to the face of the guitar to do their work. The same is true for the machines in the Japanese plant. This is unlikely as the bodies are routed out of bolted-down blanks, with the control, pickup and neck cavities routed in from the top then the outline roughed out, then the roundovers and contours are applied. At no point would a machine 'benefit' from being anchored to a single point. Imagine programming a CNC machine to hog out the perimeter of a bass body around a single anchor point... it doesn't make sense.

2) They didn't need these holes in the '50s and '60s. What sort of backwards technology required us to dig into the top wood of an instrument to make it? I understand firstly that they were making far fewer of these instruments within the same timeframe, and that a lot more of the work was manual or relying on Leo Fender's DIY machinery. We have the router 'hump' and the nail holes of the classic pre-CBS instruments, but they didn't need to secure anything to the top via a large untapped hole. If this mounting hole is necessary, why not simply design a CNC machine to attach to a pickup cavity (which are also mostly hidden on Fender designs by the pickguard) and work from there if it needs this 'securing' point at all (which I don't think it does)?

3)Why do some Fender bodies have three holes? This isn't a quirk of an unusual body design, I've seen it on some Strats. This mythical CNC machine sometimes needs three, untapped, holes to hog out a body....

4) What happens to all the bodies that presumably slip from the clutches of the CNC machine? The machine somehow holds onto this single, untapped, hole without any other obvious form of mounting???? Who designed that technology, and why didn't they design it to cling to pickup routes instead?


Fair warning all, check your basses for creepy little dolls;

attachment.jpg


http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/theres-doll-under-my-mij-p-bass-pickguard-495526/
 
#33
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#34
smcd said:
I'm sure you're right. There's no other sensible explanation. There's no mechanical need to rout out such a gigantic hole. I suspect that those who claim it's a CNC "locating hole" don't understand the CNC process.
Click to expand...

...

smcd said:
Yes, thousands and thousands of people own Fender guitars with holes like that. The CNC explanation makes some sense. The "body ID" story makes no sense at all.


Why would you be peeved at Fender? Do you think this factory rout affects the sound?? :eyebrow:
Click to expand...
 
#35
kohntarkosz said:
This thread clears things up, by muddying the water.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/routing-fender-jazz-bass-bodies-962524/

Note the use, on and off, of a 'swimming pool' route for the neck pickup on those bodies. The MIM Classic 60s body is routed to fir the pickup, whereas a MIM standard isn't, and has the universal route.

The mystery hole is there on the MIM basses, but not on the Squier CV body. This suggests it isn't the necessary bi-product of CNC routing, as it would be on the cheaper Squier models. They can even turn out those Jaco-style fretless Squiers with the fitted neck pickup route... what does this all mean? Some thoughts. I'm not trying to push a certain argument but thinking aloud here.

1) The CNC machines are older/cheaper in the Mexico plant and somehow attach to the face of the guitar to do their work. The same is true for the machines in the Japanese plant. This is unlikely as the bodies are routed out of bolted-down blanks, with the control, pickup and neck cavities routed in from the top then the outline roughed out, then the roundovers and contours are applied. At no point would a machine 'benefit' from being anchored to a single point. Imagine programming a CNC machine to hog out the perimeter of a bass body around a single anchor point... it doesn't make sense.

2) They didn't need these holes in the '50s and '60s. What sort of backwards technology required us to dig into the top wood of an instrument to make it? I understand firstly that they were making far fewer of these instruments within the same timeframe, and that a lot more of the work was manual or relying on Leo Fender's DIY machinery. We have the router 'hump' and the nail holes of the classic pre-CBS instruments, but they didn't need to secure anything to the top via a large untapped hole. If this mounting hole is necessary, why not simply design a CNC machine to attach to a pickup cavity (which are also mostly hidden on Fender designs by the pickguard) and work from there if it needs this 'securing' point at all (which I don't think it does)?

3)Why do some Fender bodies have three holes? This isn't a quirk of an unusual body design, I've seen it on some Strats. This mythical CNC machine sometimes needs three, untapped, holes to hog out a body....

4) What happens to all the bodies that presumably slip from the clutches of the CNC machine? The machine somehow holds onto this single, untapped, hole without any other obvious form of mounting???? Who designed that technology, and why didn't they design it to cling to pickup routes instead?


Fair warning all, check your basses for creepy little dolls;

attachment.jpg


http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/theres-doll-under-my-mij-p-bass-pickguard-495526/
Click to expand...

Here are a couple similar threads from around the internets:

Fender CNC ID Holes - Basschat

Fender Crop Circles ( CNC holes ) explain please… - Fender ...
 
#39
For those that have the hole, paint it black and you can be sucked into a different universe.

It's a Worm Hole. Fender isn't using CNC anymore, they're using wood-boring worms and sometimes the little fellas are extra hungry and take an extra chunk, out of spite, for being paid less than the CNC machines.

On the Strats that have three holes, 'cause guitarists figure they're holier than thou.

On the basses that have three holes, it's so those bassists can go bowling.
 
#40
I sent an email to Fender about this and this is what I just got back:

Dear FF,

Thank you for your enquiry. The holes in the bodies of Fender instruments address an issue that until now Fender could not confirm nor deny — that of so-called inconsistencies, or "dead spots", on the neck of certain Fender instruments. Most notably: the slightly muted or fast-decaying C# on the G string of Fender's bass instruments.

The exact resonant frequency of each body is now determined via a new proprietary method exclusive to Fender. This process involves an electro-mechanical spectogram, with a testing head that simulates the human knuckle. The body is tapped by the knuckle-like testing head and measured to determine where the inconsistency is, once found it is then cut out, this subsequently balances out the inconsistency in the neck.

In less technical terms, to come to the point, any inconsistency is eliminated and the notes ring true from every fret position.

Now that testing is complete on certain models from the Made-In-Mexico line, the Fender Tempering Divot® will be implemented throughout the rest of Fender's production lines in Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and of course right here in the USA.

Thank you for your enquiry, hope this helps.

Best regards,
Miss Innphoarmashun

Artist Relations Advisor
Product Support
Fendar Muscial Instrumints Carporation
19760 S. Perlnutter Dive, Suite 001

Scattsdale, AZ 85205
USA
Phony: 480.596.4110

Flux: 480.596.1234
Emale: [email protected]


:bassist:
 

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