Angled pickup on Westcreek 333

[Sebsation]

Today I received a Westcreek 333 I bought on Amazon. It's a cheap guitar but the quality seems great. Only one issue, one of the pickups is angled noticeably, so it's not parallel to the body as it should:

Now, the sound is outstanding on both pickups, and this is not a dealbreaker to me. In fact, I thought it might be designed like that, until I watched a few videos on YouTube showcasing the guitar, and other photos online that led me to believe this is not the way it's supposed to be.

Now, I'd rather not go through the exchange process, if this a simple fix with a screwdriver. But when I tried, it didn't seem to me like the screws were meant to be moved, at least not in the same way you turn the screws on either side of a pickup in a typical Stratocaster, making the pickups go up or down.

Has anyone seen this, and is it safe to work on, or should I just exchange it?

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I would check and see if the neck is straight first? Maybe give it a setup and see if it looks as dramatic but yeah it looks pretty angular.

I had some pickup height adjustment issues when I swapped some pickups many years ago and learned to pack the cavity underneath the pickup with firm squishy foam to help push the pickups in whichever direction I wanted.

 

[Sebsation]

I would check and see if the neck is straight first? Maybe give it a setup and see if it looks as dramatic but yeah it looks pretty angular.

Well, the neck is almost perfectly straight, at least according to the Tzurie straight edge I bought on Amazon for $9

The lower E string has some buzzing, but it's not extreme, and I don't have a huge problem with it. I tried to find some videos on setup for this particular guitar and I couldn't find more than one, which doesn't seem to be too thorough. I don't want to assume that just because it kind of looks like the Gibson Dave Grohl plays all the time, that the setup is the same, because we're not talking about setting up a Squier Stratocaster watching a video about a Fender Stratocaster. The Westcreek is a different brand and probably not the same as the Gibson, looks aside.

And I've been searching online for anything on this all day and I can't really find anything other than videos showcasing the guitar, but nothing about pickup removal or height adjustment, etc.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Well, the neck is almost perfectly straight, at least according to the Tzurie straight edge I bought on Amazon for $9

The lower E string has some buzzing, but it's not extreme, and I don't have a huge problem with it. I tried to find some videos on setup for this particular guitar and I couldn't find more than one, which doesn't seem to be too thorough. I don't want to assume that just because it kind of looks like the Gibson Dave Grohl plays all the time, that the setup is the same, because we're not talking about setting up a Squier Stratocaster watching a video about a Fender Stratocaster. The Westcreek is a different brand and probably not the same as the Gibson, looks aside.

And I've been searching online for anything on this all day and I can't really find anything other than videos showcasing the guitar, but nothing about pickup removal or height adjustment, etc.

Well to me it looks like a Gibson or Epiphone ES-335 copy, which I'm quite into, almost to the point of ordering the gold 333 myself. Tom-style bridge, I'm assuming a center block and semi-hollow wings like a 335, correct? It shouldn't be that much different.

How much experience do you have with maintenance / repairs?

 

[Sebsation]

Well to me it looks like a Gibson or Epiphone ES-335 copy, which I'm quite into, almost to the point of ordering the gold 333 myself. Tom-style bridge, I'm assuming a center block and semi-hollow wings like a 335, correct? It shouldn't be that much different.

Well, it appears that this is a design choice. I thought that the whole black base of the pickup went into the body, but finally I removed all four corner screws, and I realized that it's sitting on top of the body. So when I removed the screws and I lifted it up just a bit, I saw that the black base is actually made that way, it's shorter on the side closer to the neck, so I assume that perhaps my model is slightly different to the ones I've seen online, all of which show that pickup just as straight as the other one. But since mine is not, perhaps they made a revision and it makes some kind of sense.

Either way, the guitar sounds amazing, and it's very high quality. I had bought an Epiphone SG Cherry Burst that I was more expensive and ended up returning because the frets were protruding so much from the neck to the point where I could get my fingers bleeding if I was a serious player. It showed me that Epiphone's QC is hit and miss, because I have their cheapest SG model and it's perfect, with no manufacturing defects.

 

[laxu]

To me it looks like the top slopes a bit near the neck. It could be that the pickup mounting ring is just installed the wrong way around. Remove the pickup, mount the pickup ring the other way around and it should make more sense.

If the sloping is just an optical illusion, the more likely cause is that some jackass at the factory picked a pickup ring from the wrong pile and carried on.

You can get a straight neck pickup ring to replace it.

 

[Sebsation]

To me it looks like the top slopes a bit near the neck. It could be that the pickup mounting ring is just installed the wrong way around. Remove the pickup, mount the pickup ring the other way around and it should make more sense.

Now that you mention that, it makes sense. The problem is, when I removed the four screws, it seemed to me that the pickup was attached to the black plastic, which I guess is what you call the mounting ring. If I have to start messing too much with it, I'd rather send it back for an exchange.

 

[laxu]

Now that you mention that, it makes sense. The problem is, when I removed the four screws, it seemed to me that the pickup was attached to the black plastic, which I guess is what you call the mounting ring. If I have to start messing too much with it, I'd rather send it back for an exchange.

You can just loosen the strings, get them out of the way, take off the mounting ring screws, remove the pickup, flip the mounting ring and reinstall the pickup.

Apparently it can be a thing on Gibsons too. This guy had a similar issue and posted pics of the flipped mounting ring:

https://forum.gibson.com/topic/165218-maybe-a-dumb-question-on-es-345-or-335-pickup-mounting/

Don't be afraid to work on your guitars. You said you liked it, and if such a simple procedure fixes the issue then you're golden.

 

[Devin]

You can just leave it like that; getting the pickup parallel with the strings won't make much if any difference in the sound

 

[Sebsation]

Apparently it can be a thing on Gibsons too. This guy had a similar issue and posted pics of the flipped mounting ring:
https://forum.gibson.com/topic/165218-maybe-a-dumb-question-on-es-345-or-335-pickup-mounting/

I'm actually watching a video on YT now that shows an Epiphone 335 which when they show the pickup in question, it looks the same as mine, but somehow the pickup doesn't seem to be at an angle.

Don't be afraid to work on your guitars. You said you liked it, and if such a simple procedure fixes the issue then you're golden.

My only concern is that the pickup seems to be screwed into the ring, and if this was my old guitar that I can't exchange anymore, I would've done it already, but it feels that it's something that I'm not on firm ground. I fix things all the time, I have all kinds of tools, but when it comes to new things that I can still exchange, when I think about it, it's just simpler to exchange it. Of course the next guitar could have the same problem, or some other problem.

But I also removed the pickup yesterday and those four screws that go into the wooden body are tiny, it seems to me that unscrewing them a second time might not be the best idea.

 

[Eagle]

Turn around the pickup surround. They are flipped on most 335s for the same reason.

 

[Sebsation]

You can just leave it like that; getting the pickup parallel with the strings won't make much if any difference in the sound

Could it be that it was meant like that? I'm seeing a lot of people online saying that it comes like that in Gibsons, and I bet Gibsons have higher QC standards than Westcreek. Maybe not as much for Epiphones, which in my experience seems to be all over the place, like I mentioned above with my SGs.

 

[Eagle]

You can clearly see it’s flipped on this vintage 335.

 

[Sebsation]

View attachment 61929
You can clearly see it’s flipped on this vintage 335.

Yeah, but I've seen it both ways. I wonder if there's a reason for that.

 

[Eagle]

Yeah, but I've seen it both ways. I wonder if there's a reason for that.

It should be flipped but people don’t realise and put it on backwards. Same with tunamatics.

 

[Sleezy E]

If you plan on playing guitar for a while there's no better time to get your feet wet..

Flip Dat sucker around!

It won't sound any different tho

 

[laxu]

My only concern is that the pickup seems to be screwed into the ring, and if this was my old guitar that I can't exchange anymore, I would've done it already, but it feels that it's something that I'm not on firm ground.

Hence why it's a mounting ring. Just flip the pickup ring, it's no big deal. Things get taken apart all the time for cleaning, repairs, pickup swaps etc.

Remember, this is a guitar that you like otherwise. I've done far more extensive work on guitars that I liked but weren't perfect from the factory. As long as it was reflected in the price, I'm going to fix those problems.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

If the guitar sounds good and plays well otherwise, I wouldn't exchange it. I've played various 335s back to back and they all seemed to sound different from each other.