Pickup parts

You should definitely have a go, its really amazing the first time you hear sound coming from a pickup you have wound yourself!

The pickup wire is the only thing that can be tricky to source as it needs to be much thinner than the common gauges in electronics shops. Ebay, or failing that stewmac.com (more expensive, but they have everything).

Magnets come in any shape, size or type you like and all of them should work (and give different sounds you can experiment with). They are used in all sorts of things so should be easy to find and cheap.

For the housing, there are lots of ways to make your own out of wood/plastic boxes etc, or you can buy them (again stewmac has everything).

For winding them, you can do it with just a drill. Some way to guide the wire in so it doesn't snag and snap (the wire is very fragile), and some way to count the turns can be helpful. If you are doing it this way you will have to experiment a bit to get things just right. You can buy machines that will handle all this, but where's the fun in that!

 

http://www.mojotone.com/guitar-parts/Pickup-Parts

my buddy in germany uses these guys to make his pickups. very detailed list of parts for anything you might want to put together.

 

I get my wire from amazon. Twice the wire stewmac sells for half the price. Just do a search for 42 or 44 gauge magnet wire.

 

This guy has a lot of parts, too.

http://stores.ebay.com/Addiction-FX-Guitar-and-Sound

Tedward

 

Here is are some links to that wire. Much better prices than stewmac, and you get double the wire
http://www.amazon.com/Magnet-Wire-E...73956068&sr=8-1&keywords=42+gauge+magnet+wire
http://www.amazon.com/Magnet-Wire-E...73956135&sr=8-1&keywords=44+gauge+magnet+wire