software

I just realized that there are really only so many things that can be varied to change the tone of a standard humbucking pickup. These are the ones i can think of.

-Type of wire
-Amount of winding
-Type of magnet
-Type of screw/slug configuration

What else is there really? Am I missing something? I'm just trying to figure out how some guys can justify charging $400 for a set of pickups, when there's really only these 4 variables they could be messing with. Any ideas?

Actual winding itself, different machines, etc. I guess.

Here's a nice list of things that affect pickup sound:

from : localhost//website..._and_a_3.shtml

Scroll down to Q# 155.

... and the maple spacer for mojo

Interesting. Looks like there's more ways of winding than I realized. That list is kind of crap though. Effects do not change the tone of the pickup. They change the tone of the guitar signal generated by the pickups. Tailpieces do not change the tone of a pickup. They change the way the strings resonate which is picked up by the pickups. There's a bunch of other junk on that list that is really separate from pickups. Of course they interact with the pickup, but it has no effect on the way the pickup does it's thing.

I think that part of that is because that paragraph lost its formatting when they posted it. If you look close, there's 10 catagories, with separate items under each. The part about effects and guitar construction is under the catagory of:

Other factors that make a pickup sound different.