How to bend wire has been covered hundreds of times on RCU over the years. You can use a vise or buy one of the wire or tube benders. It should be bent cold. The vise should have round grooves filed into the jaws so the bends aren't so abrupt as to remove the temper. I just buy packs of 2-56 or 4-40 to make my control rods. Pre-threaded on one end and I solder on the clevis on the other. The clevis I solder is labeled as solder clevises. Piano wire can be bought at most hardware stores to make the landing gear but I find a better size selection at my local hobby shops. I buy it in several sizes and keep it on hand in my shop for bending gear. For control rods on small electrics I have a good stock of stainless dental wire used to make retainers and other dental appliances. Just buying packs of Dubro 4-40 and 2-56 is the easy way to do it for most of my control rods. The price of piano wire isn't any different no mater where I buy it so there is no big savings.