Guitar Parts and Whatnot

Ok, so I'm relatively new to the whole guitar thing.... and I'm trying to learn more about the mechanical side of guitars. Basically, I want to be able to tell the difference between different types of pick-ups, stuff like that. I have no idea where to start though

The first thing you should do is use hte search feature up above in the tool bar and type in anything you want to know..... I'm positive there's been about a hundred threads pertaining to any single thing you want to know about.... And between me, lordathestrings, doc simon, and a whole bunch of other gear heads I'm sure you'll have plenty of educational materials to look over that will feed your hunger. If you have any questions give any one of us a shout out.

Thanks alot for the help.

Pickups:
Single coil, Humbucker. those are the ones you'll see on most guitars.

SC's are the strait line looking thing on strat guitars -

To add to rockonn91's post, a humbucker is basically 2 single coils put together. When 2 single coils are put together like that, they cancel out the hum that is associated with single coils....That's how they they got the name humbuckers.......they buck the hum.

Single coils pickups are much thinner sounding while humbuckers are fatter.

Those are the 2 most common types of pickups...other types include Soapbar pickups (looks kind of like a humbucker) and lipstick pickups (looks like a metal bar).

Then there are active and passive pickups. These can be single coils, humbuckers, etc......the difference is that active pickups require a 9 volt battery and are much more sensitive than passive pickups. Most guitars have passive pickups. They don't require the battery......

EMG has the best active pickups in most people's opinion. A lot of the metal players use these such as Zakk Wylde, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett.........