Has anyone replicated this (haven't checked other forums yet). I think I got all the parts, got the barium-ferrite core with the coil wound and have the other parts.

Sadly I don't have a signal generator (shame on me I know, got all the parts here for one with MAX038 but haven't put it together) so I wonder if I can just use a 555 at 1-10KHz for a signal instead?