Q: Some of the strings on my guitar don’t line up exactly with the pole pieces on the pickups. Is it defective? Do I need to have the pickup or bridge changed?
A: Unless the guitar has been modified — for example, humbuckers added to a guitar with a F-spaced bridge — the odds of the wrong parts being installed are low. Likewise, the odds of the bridge or pickup being in the wrong place are low.
More likely, it’s just a matter of how the pickups and strings line up. Ideally, each string would be centered over its respective pole piece. But the reality is that slight variance is the norm. The magnetic field extends out from the pole pieces, so there is plenty of coverage for most situations.
Unless there is a volume problem with one string (or strings), it’s nothing to worry about.