pinch harmonics

when i do pinch harmonics on my guitar they sound realy dead. i have another guitar and pinch harmonics on that one sound realy good but everything else sounds realy crapy, thats why i almost never use it. is there a pedal that will bring my pinch harmonics to life or something that i can do to make them sound better? tell me what techniques(or however you spell that) you guys use?
(i like zakk wylde's pinch harmonics, i want my harmonics to sound like his)

haha, well everyone wants their harmonics sounding like wyldes!

um, so this one guitar- has it just never had good harmonics? or is this something new. some guitars are just easier to do pinch harmonics on, and sound better doing it. i dont know the technical reason... probably some of the materials, the sustain, the intonation... i dont know.

also, what are the gagues of the strings on the guitars? thicker strings will give a better harmonics sound. theyre alot fuller and more musical- better overall tone. also what kind of guitar are you using that sounds good, and which sounds bad? if we knew this, i bet we could help you out a bit more.

eh, as for pinch harmonics... you know the drill. you choke up on the pick, hitting the string right after you hit it- stopping the string, making a harmonic. vibrato makes it resonate more. its easier to do on a nice big bend.

ehhh, i gotta go. ill come back to this tomorrow.

Here's a key dish on pinch harmonics. Every guitar is different so when you play a harmonic on a string on one guitar and get a good one it doesn't mean that picking in the same spot on a different guitar will get the same result. Even after I had my guitar set up I had to go through and find the sweet spots again. The sweet spots on a certain string change depending on what fret you're holding down. It's a lot of experimenting and alot to remember if it's a technique you want to use alot.

Originally Posted by: magicninja... The sweet spots on a certain string change depending on what fret you're holding down. It's a lot of experimenting and alot to remember if it's a technique you want to use alot.

A place to start in your search for the sweet spots: thumb the string at the point where the harmonic should be. Seems too obvious? If you want the 2nd harmonic (one octave up), you should thumb the string halfway between the fret and the bridge. This point will shift as you fret different notes. And bend the string. As the string scrapes across the fret, it helps to keep the string vibrating. Heavy vibrato can do this too.

i knew all off that stuff already. the guitar that sucks, other than the pinch harmonics, is an old fender(HSS) standard strat(i messed up the neck a long time ago and i am still pissed about it so dont ask). i dont know why they sound so good on that old thing but they do. but the other guitar is an esp mh250 with emg hz h4s. when i bought it i thought they would sound better than the fender but i was wrong. the fender has 21 frets and the pickups have more space between them. the esp has 24 frets and the pickups are alot closer together, limiting where i can pick without hitting one of them. this is just one of my theorys but i hope this info will help you help me.

Ignore the pickup location! Pick where the harmonic is, and if you happen to brush the pup in the process, no biggy. The tops of the covered pups on my ol' Brand X are so scratched-up, you can tell where the strings are, because the thin lines under each string are the only shiny places left.

Yes, the sweetspot is all important.