There are many places you can look for old pickups. I’d start with the local music store and ask them if you can look through some junk parts and tell them that your experimenting on some new pickup idea. Many times they have old pickups thrown in a box especially old humbuckers where one of the coil may still be operative. Even broken coils can be fixed with a little care and time given to them. I try to save all coils before rewinding them and you should too. I’ve seen ads in newspapers where hobbyists advertise looking for old parts to mess around with. Hanging out with other guitarists is a good place to find odds and ends as most guitarists are always working on their instruments. I’ve found lots of old guitar parts at garage sales, swap meets, flea markets and once found a ’63 Deluxe Reverb for $50 at a garage sale.

There are lots of products out there, especially with all the after market products that have been made for years and you can really find out that someone’s junk is another man’s treasure. I always have guitarists calling me, saying “guess what I just found”! I used to ask around who the local guitarists are and who they took lessons from. Call music teachers and ask them if they know of guitar repairman or players that like experimenting with their sound. After a while you’ll have many contacts and boxes of neat parts!