This song is so beautiful... I used to cry, the first few times I listened to it, because I'm so far away from my dad and I love him so much, I'm so proud of him and, as they say in the song, I wanna be the same as him!
when you do pinch harmonics you do it nearer to the neck, away from the bridge, but i don't see that technique here.. he's maybe using a wah pedal that produces a pinch harmonic effect (maybe at number 4 or halfway open) plus a phaser that is mixed with a step sequencer on a sawtooth sequence.. i think that's the nearest possible, because the "pinched" sound starts from a higher pitch going lower and lower, and strts back to a higher pitch, like looping.
@kidbuueatsall its a phaser on a sawtooth mode... with a good distortion, yum, i crave for Ben's gears!! but you can also do it with a pinch harmonic, but probably you can't jump like ben does on intro.. =)
def. not a pinch harmonic. pinch's aren't really an "effect" like pedals are. i would say your probably right with the flanger just on an odd setting or maybe a phaser on an odd setting again.