Me neither, but maybe that body was made by a new employee on their first day!
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That’s got to be it.
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One of the things I read said the Corona facility had gotten new CNC machines in 2015 (?) and for whatever reason they didn’t need that little hole. So, if you have an MIA Fender from 2015 to now it shouldn’t have one.
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That bass is a beauty.
Can you post a close up of the tuners from front and back?
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Yep, will do once I am off work tonight. 
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Here you go. I wish someone would have done this for me when I was shopping tuners.
Stock Fender/Squier: Notice it’s just stamped piece of metal to confirm to the tuning key.
Hipshot: Quite a bit beefier, but there’s another difference as well–
– the tuning peg bushings. I can’t show the Hipshot ones (they are installed already), but they are twice as deep/tall as the Fender ones. A bit easier to install too.
Fender Bushing:
Hope this is helpful.
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It does. Thank you.
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Yeah, that hipshot is machined where the Fender is stamped out of sheet.
Functionally Fender does the job, but the Hipshot is not only so much better looking, it has better mechanical precision and greater accuracy throughout it’s lifetime. That and the deeper bushing, it is pretty certain that you won’t have problems with it falling out of tune due to the tuners, only temperature and humidity would be factors for that
Of course, this explains the cost difference, but you are getting quality for the money.
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Agreed, the Fenders will do the job, although the action can be rough sometimes. My Squier E and G tuners are rough, but I dont’ really notice under tension.
…and I forgot to mention that the Hipshot tuners are geared down more then Fender, for easier tuning (but more turns for string changes).
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