How does a single coil pickup work? (details and pictures highly appreciated)?

Question

i need to know as much as possible, seeing how i know little to nothing....

Answer 1

Most pickups work very similarly to the way a common speaker does.  First you have a coil rapped around what is called pole pieces  and the ends of these coils are attached to the guitar's electronics.  When the strings are strummed (which are directly above the ends of the pole pieces) the magnetic field emitted from a small permanent magnet is disturbed and the occilation causes a very small occilating DC current to be produced, an amplifier simply amplifies the DC signal to level to the point of human perception and beyond.