Top leg hot spots are usually due to over-tightness of the coil - often this happens when you screw down the positive leg. Try wrapping the wire to the side of the post so that as you screw it down it is loosening the top leg a tiny bit.
Overall tightness of the coil can also be the culprit. The main fixes are trying to make sure the wick can move through the coil, try coiling off the atty and then attach the whole wick & wire assembly, or the drill bit method. The drill bit method is to take a drill bit just big enough for the wick hole (any piece of metal this size will do - I've used an allen wrench) and wrap the coil on the bit. Then slide the bit into the wick hole and attach the coil to the posts. Test fire the coil to stiffen it, and then roll a wick and insert it through the coil. There should be some friction as it goes through, but it shouldn't be a pain - if it is, then roll the wick tighter.
The drill bit is probably the most fool-proof. If none of these things work, then your problem is probably poor oxidation of the mesh.
What gauge wire do you use? Mechanical or VV/VW?
Use low voltage on a new setup, test the ohms of your coil (assuming you have a meter?), and I find 30 gauge easiest to work with for 1.5-2 ohm coils, though YMMV. I haven't tried the ribbon (I've got a few decades worth of kanthol already!) Also - when adjusting coils for hot-spots, it is often the coil beneath or above the spot that is the problem, so bump them all.
Hope this helps....
video of drill-bit:
The DrillBit Method - YouTube