Birthday Gift

So, I want to give a birthday present for my little brother next month and I know he want a hollow body guitar. With my saving, these three is my only option:

1. Cort Source

2. Epiphone Dot Studio

3. Fender Modern Player Thinline Telecaster

He is big Les Paul sound fan for your consideration. I know some of you will say "just grab a Les Paul". But, he already have one and want a hollow body.

Out of that three, which one you recommend the most? Oh, and my brother prefer wider neck.

are the modern players still amde in emxico? ebcause mexican fenders are still pretty good bang for buck even though the prices aren't as low as they once were... set-neck budget hollowbodies? stay away, its hard to find a good one.... you might play a few hundred epis to find one nice one these days, fuck that

a thinline tele if its vintage spec should have a thinner nut width then most gibsontype guitars (although that era of mid 60s to the late 70s everyone went over to thinner nuts, it was a thin that went on and then they came to their senses by 1980), but being a modern player who knows whatf ender did with it, check the specs online for nut width on all 3 guitars,, they generally list them.

They are still MIM. And they're pretty kickass, even if the prices are rising. The thinline Teles are my favorite kind of semi hollow and they're so resonant it's not even funny. It is a vintage spec guitar, so thin nut, 9.5" radius. The P90s are great, it's light, and the body is comfortable. Colors are lacking though, only comes in shit brown or like a wine red type trans finish.

radius and nut width are different, nut width effects string spacing and refers to just wjat it says, the end to end width at the nut... radius refers to the curvature of the fretbaord... 9.5" radius is also not vintage spec, its fender's modern standard but even into the CBS era it was aorund 7.5" which is elss desireable for people who like to ebnd a lot but have low action ebcause the strings will fret out if the action is low as they cotnact the higher aprts of the fretboard. I have fenders with both radiuses and can't say i have any preference. Nut width? i used to prefer 50s wide, but I have some thinner 60s/70s nuts now and really don't care anymore.

Right, should have said thin nut AND 9.5" radius. At least I'm pretty sure. But I actually like the closer string spacing, it's easy to play. For the record it's a 1.65" nut width, can't remember what that is relative to other nuts.

A little update, his girlfriend said to me, he is into Jazzmaster or Jaguar right now (she can't recall). Question is, which one will fit him better. On Squier line, which is better, VM or CV?

I know people rave about the CVs and having played an early classic vibe 50s tele I was impressed at how much guitar it was for the money and I regularly recommend them for beginners who are into music that's tele appropriate and who have big enough hands to handle a full scale fender. I've not touched the offset CV ones though. That's a finnicky design that eneds good ahrdware, far elss forgiving then the tele's bulletproof, dead simple design. In jazzmasters, the best squier on the market is the J Mascis. I haven't tried the otehr squier JMs, I don't need to because the signature model is as good as a mexican fender and there's now ay there's anything better available for this money. Excellent guitar. I would say its almost good enough to be a stage guitar stock. A good value in actual fender is the blacktop jazzmaster. its pretty hated and can be had on the cheap used. Non-traditional pickups though. Bucker at the neck and a really hot P90 style pickup at the bridge instead of the more wide-range, low output JM pickup. But it has the shape LOL and its made quite well. I'm not a good judge of jags as I have trouble playing short scale.

CV Jag is a helluva guitar, it really is. I can't play it cuz it's so tiny, but it is excellent. I'd second the J Mascis JM, it's got pickups that sound great and are halfway between a hotter P90 and low output JM. I like the Blacktop, but not everyone does, so keep that in mind.

Just a little update, finally I buy him the Epiphone Dot. Not the studio version, but it's used. I let him pick himself. Now, he forgot his Les Paul. Thanks for the suggestion!