Pinch harmonic ease and difficulty on well-built guitars

[Number Of The Priest]

I'm still confused, what pickup is in your Shannon Soloist bridge position now? The original bridge pickup in it is a Duncan Pearly Gates which is a pretty weak bridge pickup although I like it as a neck pickup.

There was a DiMarzio Super 3 in there, followed by the current APC Persuader Lead.

I never got to hear the Pearly Gates since the original owner did a pickup swap at one point.

I totally agree with the sweet spot theory. Seems like my Les Paul is one huge G-spot all along the entire scale length while the Shannon Soloist has it in a really weird spot where I need to overextend my picking hand a bit more than I'm comfortable with just to get anything to remotely sound like a squeal.

[wilkinsi]

Doesn't the way in which a guitar is set up make a difference too? Its always harder for me to get a pinched harmonic outta my RR24 than my WR1, yet my WRMG (when I still owned it) was even easier despite having so called crap pickups.

[Robert Burns]

Have you tried pinching them up and down the body? Could be that the sweet spot moves a fraction of an inch from where you're used to pulling them.

I am convinced that certain strings brands/types are shit for pinching as well. I use DR Highbeams on most stuff. Squeals galore.

Vass

*** Yep...of my dozen or so axes...the harmonic point is sometimes
2" away from another axe. I have to learn where they are on different
ones.. Some of the Charvels are broader in inches where harmonics happen, and some only have about a 1/2" area of response.

[Robert Burns]

that's b/c Zakk plays a LP man, come on!

Naw...he likes his GMW's even better!

[horns666]

WTF..I think Soap just wrote the next Nevremore album...

Are we still on the hunt for the ever elusive "ping"?..

It's all in the hips..you gotta thrust those pings out..just like playin' pinball..careful or you'll tilt the fucker!

[Snoogans]

It's all in the hips..you gotta thrust those pings out..just like playin' pinball..careful or you'll tilt the fucker!

Ain't that the truth!
You gotta get the face thing right too

[horns666]

Ain't that the truth!
You gotta get the face thing right too

The face..Oh yes, The face is most important!! If you're not pinging, chances are good you're not making the face.>>>

Try to shoot your goo without making the face..its impossible!

[Ripley7t]

Ever try and keep your eyes open?

[horns666]

Ever try and keep your eyes open?

ALWAYS..that way I can't miss my target!

[chmizell]

One thing I didnt see mentioned, which is super important, is string height. If your strings are too low, especially on the low strings, you cant get pings as well. I had an ESP MII with maple fretboard and EMG81 and Marshall Slash + Boss SD1. With that, you'd think I could could give it a dirty look and it would ping! But that guitar was difficult in the lower registers. I now have a Charvel with ebony board, Custom 5, running thru a Mesa Triple Rec....by theory that should be harder to ping, especially since I am using tons of mids, and really rolling off the treble. The Charvel squeals like Ned Beatty! When I got my Charvel, I noticed that the low E side on the neck seemed lower than the high side. I have my Floyd pretty close to level, I thought it was a flaw, but actually is a good thing because, I can keep my high strings low, and there is more space on the low strings to vibrate. I tried other guitars, and sure enough, its easier to ping with higher action, especially the low strings. I think that was the problem as my ESP was like 1/32 on the low E! Later on, I read on Zakks site that he said he knows the action is too low on the lower strings when he cant ping on demand.

[horns666]

nah..that's not it.

low action, high action, pups, no pups..gimme it!!!

They don't call me Bill Z Ping for nuthin'.

a fresh set of strings does help a tad tho.

[Robert Burns]

The Architect - Hello, Neo.
Neo - Who are you?
The Architect - I am the Architect. I created the matrix. I've been waiting for you. You have many questions, and although the process has altered your consciousness, you remain irrevocably human. Ergo, some of my answers you will understand, and some of them you will not. Concordantly, while your first question may be the most pertinent, you may or may not realize it is also the most irrelevant.
Neo - Why am I here?
The Architect - Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. Which has led you, inexorably, here.
Neo - You haven't answered my question.
The Architect - Quite right. Interesting. That was quicker than the others.
*The responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: "Others? What others? How many? Answer me!"*
The Architect - The matrix is older than you know. I prefer counting from the emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the next, in which case this is the sixth version.
*Again, the responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: "Five versions? Three? I've been lied too. This is bullshit."*
Neo: There are only two possible explanations: either no one told me, or no one knows.
The Architect - Precisely. As you are undoubtedly gathering, the anomaly's systemic, creating fluctuations in even the most simplistic equations.
*Once again, the responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: "You can't control me! F*ck you! I'm going to kill you! You can't make me do anything!*
Neo - Choice. The problem is choice.
*The scene cuts to Trinity fighting an agent, and then back to the Architect's room*
The Architect - The first matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is as apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being, thus I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus, the answer was stumbled upon by another, an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother.
Neo - The Oracle.
The Architect - Please. As I was saying, she stumbled upon a solution whereby nearly 99.9% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level. While this answer functioned, it was obviously fundamentally flawed, thus creating the otherwise contradictory systemic anomaly, that if left unchecked might threaten the system itself. Ergo, those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster.
Neo - This is about Zion.
The Architect - You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed. Its every living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated.
Neo - Bullshit.
*The responses of the other Ones appear on the monitors: "Bullshit!"*
The Architect - Denial is the most predictable of all human responses. But, rest assured, this will be the sixth time we have destroyed it, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it.
*Scene cuts to Trinity fighting an agent, and then back to the Architects room.*
The Architect - The function of the One is now to return to the source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program. After which you will be required to select from the matrix 23 individuals, 16 female, 7 male, to rebuild Zion. Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash killing everyone connected to the matrix, which coupled with the extermination of Zion will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race.
Neo - You won't let it happen, you can't. You need human beings to survive.
The Architect - There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept. However, the relevant issue is whether or not you are ready to accept the responsibility for the death of every human being in this world.
*The Architect presses a button on a pen that he is holding, and images of people from all over the matrix appear on the monitors*
The Architect - It is interesting reading your reactions. Your five predecessors were by design based on a similar predication, a contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to the rest of your species, facilitating the function of the one. While the others experienced this in a very general way, your experience is far more specific. Vis-a-vis, love.
*Images of Trinity fighting the agent from Neo's dream appear on the monitors*
Neo - Trinity.
The Architect - Apropos, she entered the matrix to save your life at the cost of her own.
Neo - No!
The Architect - Which brings us at last to the moment of truth, wherein the fundamental flaw is ultimately expressed, and the anomaly revealed as both beginning, and end. There are two doors. The door to your right leads to the source, and the salvation of Zion. The door to the left leads back to the matrix, to her, and to the end of your species. As you adequately put, the problem is choice. But we already know what you're going to do, don't we? Already I can see the chain reaction, the chemical precursors that signal the onset of emotion, designed specifically to overwhelm logic, and reason. An emotion that is already blinding you from the simple, and obvious truth: she is going to die, and there is nothing that you can do to stop it.
*Neo walks to the door on his left*
The Architect - Humph. Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness.
Neo - If I were you, I would hope that we don't meet again.
The Architect - We won't.

*** So consuming 4 Red Bulls will help you type better? Geesh!
I hope you type 300 words a minute...or you really put the effort into
your post !!

[VitaminG]

or he just cut'n'paste directly from the script.

[El Chiguete]

I think that I read before that the problem is with neck-thru guitars. I don't know why but with bolt-on (your Les Paul) guitars the pinch harms sound way more than with neck-thru guitars (your Shannon Soloist).

This happens to me to. I have a neck-thru Kramer Stagemaster Custom (basicly the same as a Soloist SL1) and a strathead Kramer Pacer Standard (bolt-on 1hum) and its the same deal.

[Soap]

or he just cut'n'paste directly from the script.

There you go.
We have a winner!
Tell em what he won Bob.

These kind of threads are a bit much for me, in the sense I think their silly.
If it was a thread about "help me to learn how to do pinch harmonics" I'd jump right in and help.
But these type of threads I like to have alittle fun with.

To discuss the mechanics and dynamics of pinch harmonics based on wood type, neck-thru, bolt on, pickups, high or low string action...blah, blah, blah and so on and so forth, is mental masturbation, pointless rheteric to me.
Once you learn to do it, you can do with any guitar regardless.
Either you can do it or you can't, bottomline.