The instrument I want seems to be hard to get hold of in my country, so I'm building one. I won't say which instrument, so that the answer will be more generally useful.
I have sourced a magnet that's wide enough to span the width between two strings, and I'll probably use a wire from some cheap headphones (easy to source and usually have a thin layer of insulation). Now, I understand basic digital electronics but I have no intuition as to why a pickup is even going to work. So I don't know which way to arrange the magnet or anything either.
Does North need to face outward or into the body of the instrument? Or even toward either end of the string?