WestCreek HELIOS Solid Body Electric Guitar, LP Style for Beginner, Rounded End Frets, Bone Nut, Rosewood Fretboard, Mahogany Body, Full Size (Brown)

I purchased the Helios in "brown" (now called “honey burst”) almost as soon as it arrived on Amazon. I bought it as a potential mod platform based on appearance alone. With no reviews to go on, I was just hoping to repeat my earlier positive experiences with the WestCreek Revenge and 333 models.As I've mentioned on my other reviews, I'm well-accustomed to "affordable" Asian-made guitars. Anyone considering buying one should expect to do some setup work, accept some minor cosmetic imperfections, and perhaps do some downstream modifications to make the guitar sound as good as it looks. Both the Revenge and the 333 surpassed my expectations, as both of those guitars looked and sounded great right out of the box (the Revenge having a slight edge on the 333).And the Helios is yet another great guitar from WestCreek. It's not perfect, but it's pretty. Well worth the $175 I paid ($219 - $44 coupon at the time).Appearance - positives:+ Body profile: I really dig the way the upper bout dips down before it intersects the neck, and also the way the cutaway horn is more fully rounded out. I see both Fender and Gibson cues blending in this silhouette; this is what I imagine it would look like if a Telecaster and a Les Paul got together and had a baby.+ Top cut: I also like the way the top is beveled all around, reminiscent of a Gibson SG. So it's neither a flat-top LP Junior, nor is it a carved-top LP standard - and I like it for that reason. May not be everyone's taste, but in my opinion it not only looks cool and unique, it's more ergonomic as well; the extra carve on the inside of the horn makes it easier to reach the high notes on the neck (similar to a PRS).+ The color on this guitar is one of its best features. I saw the "red" color first and really liked it, but ordered the "brown" because I already own a red WC Revenge and wanted something different. And I'm glad I did, as it is really beautiful. On top you have a warm golden sunburst color over a flamed maple veneer, which transitions into a darker, transparent burgundy-brown at the bevel where the veneer ends. The brown is dark enough to smoothly blend the transition from veneer to base mahogany nicely, and the color continues around to the back and up the neck. Note: The brown color doesn't translate on the Amazon stock photos; the transparent brown just looks like solid black. It is much richer in person.+ Just like my first 2 WestCreek guitars, the frets ends are rounded exactly as-advertised. No fret sprout or rough-cut edges to worry about.+ The fretboard is so dark it is almost black - same as the 333. Consistent coloring, no gaps or filler. The triangular perloid fret marker inlays are very nice with lots of whispy variations to give them depth. I like that WestCreek differentiated themselves from other manufacturers by using these types of inlays.+ Headstock shape: The same WestCreek "wave" shape used on their DC and 333 model, which personally I am a fan of. Others have mixed opinions, wishing for a more Gibsonesque open-book design, but I think it sets WestCreek apart. I'd rather own something unique than another cookie-cutter clone.+ The headstock logo & wave embellishment are mother-of-pearl-like decals, but they look good and most casual observers wouldn't even know the difference.+ The stain, lacquer and binding are flawless all-around. Just a really good looking guitar.I'm sure some people will disagree with this, but as I said in my reviews of WC's Revenge and 333 models, I'm a big fan of the way WestCreek pays homage to classic designs but puts enough of their own "spin" on their models...not just to avoid lawsuits, but to make their guitars unique unto themselves. There are a TON of LP clones on the market - some of which I own - so I appreciate that WC came up with something cool and a little different for the Helios. That's why I bought it.Appearance - negatives:- Not much to say here since the one I received is flawless in terms of fit & finish. My only complaint honestly is that WC relied too much on hardware that they're already using on other models (i.e., the toggle switch, humbucker rings, bridge, tuning knobs, and control knobs are all the same as the ones used on the 333, DC, and/or Revenge). There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, I just already own two other WC guitars and would like to see a little variation. But...I recognize that standardizing components is probably one of the ways WestCreek is able to offer such good-looking guitars at pretty amazing prices, and hardware is cheap to swap out myself if I don't like it. Which is exactly why I bought the Helios already anticipating that I'd use it as a mod platform.Functional - positives:+ Like the Revenge and 333 models I had already purchased, my Helios doesn't need much in the way of setup. The bone nut is cut well but the bridge is a little too high for my liking, so I will lower it when I set it up. No dead frets at this stage. The neck appears to be straight according to my gauge, so hopefully I won't need to add much relief when I lower the bridge.+ Intonation is pretty good although I expect to make some adjustments during setup. Easy enough to do and I haven't met a guitar that didn't need at least a little tweak.+ Pots are smooth and ramp up as expected. Pickup toggle works fine.+ Factory tuners are smooth with no slop. I may replace them for cosmetic reasons (thinking gold hardware) but functionally there's no obvious reason to yet.+ Tone is not bad. Sustain is on par with what I'd expect in a Les Paul. I measured the pickup resistance to be in the 9k & 7.5k ranges for bridge and neck positions, respectively. But...(see negatives)Functional - negatives:- The strings are thin and gritty. No big deal; haven't met a set of factory strings that lasted more than a few days in my house. I haven't measured them because I plan to replace them as soon as I have a chance.- The fretboard is also gritty; it'll need a good cleaning & oiling when I change those whimpy strings.- The output jack had an interference or fit problem that made it especially tough to insert or extract the audio cable. It wasn't impossible but it took a lot more force than I was comfortable with. So I'll need to replace that along with the other mods I'm planning. I will probably reach out to WestCreek to see if they can send me a replacement or reimburse me for the expense (they were very amenable to this when my Revenge arrived with a mislabeled knob).*- The original pickups were microphonic when using high gain. I didn't push to the point of squealing but pick attack was way too pronounced even when I lowered volume and tone, so when I tested them out with my voice (talking loudly from about 2" above the pickup) I could hear myself over the headphones. This was probably the biggest negative thing I had to say about the Helios, which was a disappointment because the pickups are pretty good on my 333, and they're flat-out awesome on my Revenge. For me this was not a big deal because I had already ordered a pair of GFS zebra Classic II's from GuitarFetish the same day I ordered the guitar from Amazon - simply because I thought they'd look cool in the Helios (and I have heard them before and like the sound of them). But as I was reviewing the guitar as it came out-of-the-box, it was definitely a strike against an otherwise 5-star review.*Note: As I recall, some buyers expressed similar dissatisfaction with the pickups in the 1st run of WC Revenge guitars (late '22), which included chrome-covered humbuckers and not the black-bobbin ones WC uses on them today. Mine are the latter variety and they're great. It also appears that WC updates their designs after initial production runs, possibly based on customer feedback. The Revenge, DC, and 333 have all evolved since they were initially introduced, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the same happen with the Helios models. I just couldn't wait that long to get my hands on one.Minor functional concerns aside, I still love this guitar. Again, in the interest of transparency, I was already planning to swap them before the Helios had even arrived, so other buyers will have to weight their willingness to make similar mods or to live with the pickups as-is. That having been said, I really do appreciate its design cues, I especially love the colors, and the fit & finish is just flawless. Yes, it'll need some light setup work, but that's expected and it's easy enough to do yourself (go watch some YouTube videos if you don't know how). So for $175 and maybe another $75ish in modifications, the Helios still comes in around the $250 price point and at the end of the day I'll have a beautiful, unique, great-sounding guitar. Hard not to be happy about that.* EDIT 8/4: WestCreek reached out to me after reading my original review and offered to send me replacement pickups and a replacement 1/4" jack to resolve the functional issues noted above. I am still planning to modify the guitar in the future, but the replacement pickups sound significantly better and the jack works as it should now. I am bumping my review up to 5 stars (originally 4 stars) in recognition of their responsive customer service and fast resolution of my concerns.

Nice neck. Great frets. Decent pickups.Good weight. Tuners work as they should.I did have 2 frets that were just slightly high, but that was easily corrected. The strings that came with the guitar were junk & they were 9s. I installed a set of 10s and adjusted the intonation. There was one other issue. The low E slot on the nut is cut too deep. I corrected that with a bit of super glue & baking soda.I installed a "Gretsch" style V tailpiece just for a unique cosmetic upgrade (looks cool).Looks nice and plays nice. A few minor tweaks and it's a very nice guitar. The price was fantastic (especially with the coupon discount). I would say the guitar was a 4 when I received it and a 5 after setup and minor tweaks.UpdateI did end upbreplacing the Nut. The A & G slots were cut too deep causing buzzing on the 1st fret. The new pre-slotted nut corrected the issue. btw, if you do need to replace the nut, get the Narrow string spacing version of an LP style nut.All in all, this is a very nice guitar. Well worth the price.

I received my Westcreek Helios today and I am pleased with my purchase. I recently did a terestrial shopping tour looking at guitars under $400. I went to 3 stores and looked at them. I was shocked at how some of the $300-$400 had very sharp frets and just kinda felt cheap.This guitar has shiny lovely rounded frets. It looks good, feels good and I am enjoying its sound and playablility. It did have some kind of dust on the front of the body, but it wiped off easily.I recommend this item.

I buy cheap guitars to mod them into good players, so I'll keep this and fix the problems with it. It's got a nice finish that looks good. I like the thin lightweight body. It came packed in a nice box with fitted polystyrene. But the box was then packed in an oversized Amazon box with no packing materials. The pickups were scratched (which doesn't matter to me because I won't keep them). The output jack is almost unusable – hard to plug in. The wiring cavities were dirty with what looked like excess plastic from a 3D printer (although, none of this looks 3D printed) – not sure what that's about. The frets have nice rounded edges, but the surface is rough – they'll need polishing. This will suit my purposes, and at this price point I can't really complain about any of this. Just don't expect a guitar that you'll want to play right out of the box. I may amend this after I mod it and get it working.

This is a gorgeous, well-made guitar. Everything stock on the guitar works well. The guitar needed no adjustments when I picked it up to play. The rosewood fretboard coupled with the smooth, polished frets are excellent. It’s extremely easy to move around the fretboard effortlessly. The stock PAF Alnico 5 humbuckers sound good.I purchased the guitar to mid out and upgrade. I already had black hardware on hand. I did purchase Fleor A5 black hexbuckers since I play a heavier style if music. These are all personal preferences. Like I said everything stock on the guitar works very well. I was surprised to find large potentiometers “pots” inside the electronic cavity. The soldering is clean. I did swap out the tone pot for a push/pull a500k tone pot to split both humbuckers.I have over 90 guitars in my collection and I’ve been playing for 35 years. So I know a nice, well-made guitar when I see/play one. This guitar has features usually seen on a guitar in the $400-$600 range. It would be in that range if it had a different name on the headstock. I’d definitely recommend this guitar for someone just starting out. Simply put its a beautiful, great playing guitar.