Don't let your friends tell you pinch harmonics has anything to do with pickups. Since you can actually do pinch harmonics on an acoustic guitar (its not easy mind you) Generally speaking from a gear stand point its easier to do pinch harmonics with more gain, and a cranked up amp.
What pinch harmonics actually are are natural points on the string that will resonate if you "Pinch" the string off at a certain point without muting it. Basically you are shortning the string artificially giving you that squeal.
Now it is true that every guitar is different and pickups can play a role in how and where you can catch a harmonic.
The key to pulling one off though is knowing where on the picking area you can achieve the sound with your own guitar, some guitars are just very easy to do it on, others are more difficult. But every guitar can achieve one.
The key to a good pinch harmonic is your touch on the string with your picking hand, pluck the note with your pick, and as the pick moves away from the string very very lightly touch it with the side of your thumb and pull away quickly. Now the trick here is to keep moving your picking hand to different area's of the picking area between the neck and bridge to find the "Sweet spot" for your own instrument. Once you find that spot you just have to learn to hit that area when you go for a pinch harmonic, the other thing is there may be several area's that give you a harmonic that is different in pitch. Generally speaking for myself, i know i can get 3 or 4 location on the same fret just by moving to a different picking area. So you can get the squeal you are looking for.
Also check out Trond's lesson on pinch harmonics, its an excellent lesson that might be able to help you as well.
Daniel
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