Electric Guitar PickupsElectric Guitar Pickups are the mechanism that convert the puny acoustic signal from your axe so into the electrical signal that can be amplified into rock overdrive. There are 2 main options to choose from: Single and Dual Coil 
Like the name suggests, this style of electric guitar pickup uses a single coil of wires wrapped around a magnet.As the steel strings move in relation to the magnet it creates an analogous electrical signal. The work in exactly the same way as the comparable magnetic (or sound hole pickups) that you'll see on an acoustic guitar. By using only a single set of coils a certain amount of noise will be introduced to the guitar signal. This can have a desirable effect when trying to go for a vintage overdrive tone (think Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen). These are the standard issue pickups for classic rock&roll guitars such as the immortal Fender Stratocaster. They tend to have a grittier sound when compared to their Dual Coil counterparts. 
Also referred to as Humbuckers, this style uses (and this should come as no surprise) two coils of wire to produce the electrical signal from the guitar strings. So is that all there is to it?? Actually yeah... pretty much. Think of the dual coil pickups as 2 single coil pickups placed side by side. The advantage of this is that any noise from the signal (called Hum) will be canceled out due to the orientation of the 2 coils with respect to each other(and therefore the Hum is Bucked...get it). The result is a very clean sound that can be cranked up quite high without noise creeping in (like our friends Paul McCartney and Slash). These can be found, for example, on Gibson Les Pauls and other guitars that strive for a warmer tone than their single coil screamer brethren.
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