Ophir, I share your frustration. I played a six-string for 40 years till my left hand seized up with arthritis. I can hold a steel bar though, no problem. Adoor closes, another opens.
But harmonics?? Oh yes, I could do them with my right hand, I just picked the string with my thumb while damping the string at the 5/7/12 fret position with the tip if my second finger. But you can't do that with a steel. the angle of the hand is different and if you're wearing finger picks it's impossible.
I've been working hard to try to hit reliable chimes by damping with the right edge of my right hand. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Then I started thinking: is the way I'm doing it different from the good guys? The answer is yes. The angle you hit the string at seems to be very important to the success - or otherwise - of the chime.
I was trying to strike the string in the plane of the strings - horizontally, as it were. If you hit the string downwards at an angle, you magnify the effectiveness of the chime, the edge of the palm doesn't quench the life out of the string like it does in the horizontal plane. Hit it hard, the striking of the string coinciding with the momentary palm contact. Try it - it works for me. Practice, practice, practice!
Will