hello Chris,
good desicion to start bending
as long as you use low voltage (battery) powered stuff, your wet fingers are enough to start,
maybe you can salvage some parts from old machines, like capacitors, potentiometers etc
good technologys are : fm and pcm based keyboards , toys etc.
like casio sa series and yamaha pss series
i think this forum is a rich source of info for the starter
and don't forget to share your discovery's here ! (mp3, pictures)
good luck !!